Guianan Trogon

The Guianan Trogon, or how to dip a bird in paint pots! Characteristic of all trogons, there is a very marked dimorphism present; the male Guianan Trogon, which gives its name to the species, measures 23 to 25 cm and has a strong gray beak with an upper mandible slightly curved; around the beak, black vibrissae are clearly visible. The throat and parotids are black and, as a unique distinguishing sign, the Guianan Trogon has a yellow orbital circle. The chest, cap and neck are an incredible, iridescent purple-blue in the light. A thin white strip, sometimes absent depending on the individual and subspecies, separates the chest from the brilliant yellow abdomen. The mantle, back, rump and scapulars are brightly painted in a luminous green that contrasts with the anthracite coverts and tertiary remiges; however when one comes up close to the bird, thin white ripple-like lines on these coverts and tertiary remiges can be seen, as though a pointillist painter had stippled these wings in delicate light touches. The black primary remiges are clearly marked in white along the edges. The uppertail coverts are turquoise-blue, this particularity being more or less marked depending on the individual; the upper rectrices take up the blue-violet colour of the chest but in a more dull shade. The lower rectrices are horizontally striped white and black, and three large rounded horizontal white marks can be seen at the lower end, two at the end of the tail and one mid-height, the tail ending in a clear horizontal black line. The female has a name that is the only purple element, all the blue-violet portion of the male turning to a slate gray on the head, throat, chest, neck, mantle and back. Mrs. Guianan Trogon is particularly marked out by a white half-moon shaped orbital circle in front and behind the eye, and the gray beak being darker on the upper mandible.The underbelly is yellow but of a paler hue than its companion, and the separation between the chest and underbelly can present a fine white line. The scapulars are gray and the coverts are horizontally striped with black and white; these stripes differ from the male's pattern by being much sharper. The lower rectrices are charcoal in their center and the markings form downward-pointed tips; the outer edges present fine black streaks and the white spots are placed in the same locations as the males but with finer shapes. The Guianan Trogon shows little of its tarses, which are gray in colour. Juveniles are of the same colouration as their mother; immature males have pale brown upper coverts with the lower rectrices less striped and marked with white. Six subspecies are recognized: ssp violaceus violaceus, which gives its name to the species (in eastern Venezuela and Brazil); ssp violaceus ramonianus (in the Amazon, Brazil, and Colombia) lacks the 'peppered' white coverts, which are dark gray, the back is blue-green rather than green; ssp crissalis (in extreme northern Brazil) resembles ramonianus but with a darker head, the violet blue only present on the back of the crown and nape; ssp caligatus (in northwest Venezuela, northern Colombia, and extreme east Panama) has a black head, the nape remains a dark blue, the chest generally well marked with blue, the pectoral band white very visible, the mantle uniformly green without blue tints, the coverts very marked by the gray and white 'waves', upper rectrices copper-green; ssp concinnus (in northwest Peru, west Ecuador and Colombia, central and west Panama, and Costa Rica) like caligatus but with a black head with only a blue collar mostly visible on the lower chest, the white mark between the chest and belly barely visible; ssp braccatus (in southern Mexico and northern Honduras) identical to concinnus but with more yellowish green mantle, back, and upper rectrices.