Mountain trogon
Mountain trogon | |
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Male | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Trogoniformes |
Family: | Trogonidae |
Genus: | Trogon |
Species: | T. mexicanus
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Binomial name | |
Trogon mexicanus Swainson, 1827
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Synonyms | |
Trogon glocitans Lichtenstein, 1830[2] |
The mountain trogon (Trogon mexicanus), also known as the Mexican trogon, is a
Its natural
Taxonomy
When he first described the mountain trogon in 1827 from a specimen collected in Temascáltepec, Mexico, William John Swainson gave the species its current scientific name.[4] Most ornithologists have agreed with this assignment, though Charles Lucien Bonaparte assigned it to the genus Trogonurus, and several other ornithologists described it again later under other names.[2] It has three subspecies:[5]
- T. m. clarus was described by Ludlow Griscom in 1932.[5]
- T. m. lutescens was also described by Griscom in 1932.[5]
- T. m. mexicanus was described by Swainson in 1827.[5]
DNA studies have shown that the mountain trogon is part of the "Elegant" sub-clade of the genus Trogon—along with the elegant trogon, the collared trogon, the black-throated trogons (Amazonian, Atlantic, choco, and northern) and the masked trogon—but have not revealed which species are its closest relatives.[6]
The genus name Trogon is a Greek word meaning "grawing" or "nibbling".[7] This may be a reference to the way trogons gnaw into rotting trees to make their nest holes.[8] The species name mexicanus means "Mexico", a reference to where the first specimen was collected.[9]
Description
The mountain trogon measures 11.5–12.5 in (29–31.5 cm) in length.
Similar species
There are several species with which the mountain trogon might be confused; they differ primarily in the color and patterning on their tails. The male elegant trogon's tail is copper-colored (rather than green) above and finely vermiculated black and white (rather than all black) below, while the female has a white patch behind and below her eye. The male collared trogon is golden-green on the back and uppertail, and its undertail is black with narrow white barring. The female collared trogon's tail is grayish below with a narrow dark bar at the tip of each rectrice.[13]
Range and habitat
The mountain trogon is found in the highlands of Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras.[14] Although it was formerly recorded as a resident in El Salvador, the area where it was found was ceded to Honduras in 1992 and it now occurs in El Salvador only as a vagrant.[3] It also occurs in Nicaragua, though the origin of these birds is uncertain.[1] The ornithological collection at Vassar College contains a mountain trogon that was purportedly shot in Texas,[15] but the species is not on the list of accepted North American birds.[16]
Found at elevations ranging from 3,000 to 10,000 ft (910 to 3,050 m),[17] the mountain trogon prefers pine or pine-oak woodlands and cloud forest.[14]
Behavior
The mountain trogon may associate with
Food and feeding
The mountain trogon eats insects and small fruits, which it catches or plucks while on the wing.[17]
Breeding
Like all trogons, the mountain trogon is a cavity nester.[17] It is both a primary and secondary cavity nester, meaning that it both excavates its own nest cavities, and uses those cavities already excavated by another species.[19][20] When it excavates its own nest, it uses its beak to gnaw a hole in rotting wood, either in a decaying stump or branch.[17] The cavity is typically less than 4 ft (1.2 m) off the ground, but occasionally as high as 12 ft (3.7 m).[17] When it uses a cavity made by another species, it typically uses those made by large woodpeckers.[20] The female lays two white eggs, which both parents incubate, though the female does far longer stints than the male. The eggs hatch after 19 days.[17]
Voice
The mountain trogon has several vocalizations. If alarmed, it gives a sharp, low-pitched call variously transcribed as "cut" or "tuck". In flight, it gives a quick, low-pitched call transcribed as "cut-a-cut-cut". When perched, it makes a slow, repetitive "cowh" or a "tucka-tucka-tucka".[14] Young mountain trogons make quiet hissing calls when food begging, and when approached by potential predators.[21]
Conservation and threats
Because of its large range and large population, estimated to number between 50,000 and 499,999 individuals, the mountain trogon is rated as a species of
References
- ^ . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ a b c d Ridgway, Robert (1911). "The Birds of North and Middle America". Bulletin of the United States National Museum. 50 (5): 765–767.
- ^ a b Herrera, Néstor; Rivera, Roberto; Ibarra Portillo, Ricardo; Rodríguez, Wilfredo (2006). "Nuevos registros para la avifauna de El Salvador" (PDF). Boletín de la Sociedad Antioqueña de Ornitología (in Spanish). 16 (2): 1–19.
- ^ "Mountain Trogon Trogon mexicanus". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
- ^ a b c d "ITIS Report: Trogon mexicanus". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
- JSTOR 4089512.
- ^ Jobling (2010), p. 391.
- ISBN 978-1-77009-241-9.
- ^ Jobling (2010), p. 252.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-854012-0.
- ISBN 978-1420064452.
- ISBN 978-1-4262-0403-6.
- ^ Edwards, Ernest Preston (1998). A Field Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Adjacent Areas: Belize, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Austin, TX, US: University of Texas Press. pp. 82–83.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-395-97514-5.
- S2CID 83503957.
- ^ "ABA Checklist Update" (PDF). American Birding Association. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
- ^ JSTOR 4079204.
- JSTOR 4158970.
- JSTOR 3677542.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-292-76288-6.
- JSTOR 27715232.
Cited works
- Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Names. London, UK: Christopher Helm. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
External links
- Mountain trogon photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)
- "Mountain trogon media". Internet Bird Collection.
- Audio recordings of Mountain trogon on Xeno-canto.