Amazonian Black-throated Trogon

The Rufous Trogon is a charming trogon and is the origin of its name (rufus in Latin meaning red), as the female presents a magnificent red tail. The Anglo-Saxons call it the Black-throated Trogon or trogon with a black throat, the Spanish Trogon amarillo or yellow trogon, and our poetic French soul gave it the name of Trogon aurore. Its size, 23 to 25 cm, classifies it rather as one of the smaller trogons. The dimorphism is pronounced, the male presenting a powerful yellow beak surrounded by very visible black whiskers around both mandibles. The forehead and cap are emerald green, the throat and parotids black surround a dark brown almost black iris, highlighted by a very visible pale yellow orbital circle. The chest retains the beautiful emerald green colour of the forehead and cap and shapes a beautiful arc of circle at the limit of the golden yellow abdomen, a thin white mark separates the chest from the belly, the latter being more or less marked according to individuals and probably according to their age. The nape, mantle and back remain emerald green, tinged with turquoise blue nuances on the rump. The scapulars retain the green colouration, the coverings are of a very great finesse, presenting horizontal black and white vermiculation, the primary and secondary remiges are black, marked with a clear white line on the emarginations, the completely black primaries are worn long and curve over the bottom of the back and rump. The upper rectrices are olive green and barred with a clear black line at their tips, seen from the front they are horizontally striped with black and white, with three distinct white parts of which the part furthest from the end of the tail is very wide. The tip of the tail is underscored by the same black line visible on the upper rectrices.The female is very different, the beak is light yellow with a characteristic gray-black culmen, two white arcs at the front and back of the eye are visible, the crown, the nape and the whole back are dark brown. The chest is brown outlined with a wider white mark than the male, the white coloration darkening on both sides to become very light brown in the parts close to the covers. The belly is bright yellow. The green scapulars of the male are brown in the female, and the thin black and white vermiculations of the male's wing covers are transformed into delicate light brown and white waves, the upper rectrices are brown and end with the same horizontal black line, the lower rectrices maintaining the same marking as the male. The tarses, barely visible, are gray-blue in the male and gray in the female. The juveniles resemble their mother and are therefore mainly brown, the belly is not yet colored yellow and adopts a very pale light brown shade, young males have not yet the black and white vermiculations of the covers but have the same shade as their mothers brown and white. Six subspecies (ssp) are recognized: ssp rufus which gives its name to the species (from Venezuela to Guyana, Bolivia and the center of Brazil); ssp sulphureus with copper-colored upper rectrices, green and black at the tip of the tail, the green of the back not tinted blue on the croup, the orbital circle yellow, the coarse brown and white vermiculations of the female (east of the Andes, Amazon, north of Mato Grosso); ssp amazonicus similar to sulphureus but with golden bronze upper rectrices (rather in the western part of the Amazon upstream of the Rio Negro, very difficult to distinguish from sulphureus ); ssp chrysochloros with finely marked wing covers more black than white in the male, the female will have the same characteristic on these covers which will present brown and dark waves, upper rectrices with a darker green color than rufus, lower rectrices with finer white stripes giving a darker tail (eastern Brazil, in the region of Bahia and Rio Grande do Sul, Mato Grosso do Sul); ssp cupreicauda like sulphureus but with green-bronze upper rectrices, coarse black and white vermiculations, white band between the chest and the belly very diffuse, or even absent, the belly is more yellow-orange than bright yellow, black and white stripes wider on the lower rectrices, the female transforms the brown color into brown-brown shade, very vague or absent pectoral white mark, the color of the yellow belly is yellow-ochre (northwest Ecuador, northern Colombia); ssp tenellus neck and back more golden green, lower back and croup blue-turquoise, dark blue-turquoise upper rectrices, lower rectrices with three very wide white marks, the white pectoral band is always present, pale blue orbital circle, the female has the lower chest and the belly pale yellow (Central America and northern Colombia).