Quetzals () are strikingly colored

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

s in the

trogon The trogons and quetzals are birds in the order Trogoniformes which contains only one family, the Trogonidae. The family Trogonidae contains 46 species in seven genera. The fossil record of the trogons dates back 49 million years to the Early E ...

family. They are found in

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s, especially in humid

highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

s, with the five species from the genus ''Pharomachrus'' being exclusively

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

, while a single species, the

eared quetzal The eared quetzal (''Euptilotis neoxenus''), also known as the eared trogon, is a near passerine bird in the trogon family, Trogonidae. It is native to streamside pine-oak forests and canyons in the Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico south to ...

, ''Euptilotis neoxenus'', is found in Guatemala, sometimes in Mexico and very locally in the southernmost United States. In the highlands of the states of Sonora, Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango, Nayarit, Zacatecas, Jalisco, and Michoacán, the Eared Quetzal (Euptilotis Neoxenus) can be found from northwest to west-central Mexico. It is a Mexican indigenous species, but some reports show that it occasionally travels and nests in southeastern Arizona and New Mexico in the United States. June to October is the mating season for Eared Quetzals. Quetzals are fairly large (all over 32 cm or 13 inches long), slightly bigger than other trogon species.Restall, R. L., C. Rodner, & M. Lentino (2006). ''Birds of Northern South America.'' Christopher Helm. (vol. 1). (vol. 2).Ridgely, R. S., & J. A. Gwynne, Jr. (1989). ''A Guide to the Birds of Panama with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras.'' 2nd edition. Princeton University Press. The

resplendent quetzal The resplendent quetzal (''Pharomachrus mocinno'') is a small bird found in southern Mexico and Central America, with two recognized subspecies, ''P. m. mocinno'' and ''P. m. costaricensis''. These animals live in tropical forests, particularly ...

is the

national bird This is a list of national birds, including official birds of overseas territories and other states described as nations. Most species in the list are officially designated. Some species hold only an "unofficial" status. National birds See al ...

of Guatemala because of its vibrant colour. Quetzals have iridescent green or golden-green

wing covert A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which, as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are sm ...

s, back, chest and head, with a red belly. Their wings are suited to camouflage under rainy conditions, because their feathers blend well with wet and shiny green area. They are strongly

sexually dimorphic Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...

, and parts of the females' plumage are brown or grey. These largely solitary birds feed on fruits, berries, insects and small

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () (chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, with c ...

s (such as frogs). Even with their famous bright plumage, they can be hard to see in their natural wooded habitats.

Conservation status

None of the many quetzal species are under immediate threat in the wild, although the eared and resplendent quetzal are at the

Near Threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify f ...

status. ''Pharomachrus mocinno'' is dependent on standing dead and mature trees for breeding holes, which are only formed in primary cloud forest; the species' breeding behavior is linked to the long term existence of these forests such as the few remaining in highland Guatemala. The remaining are not considered threatened by the IUCN and all are locally common. However, it should be kept in mind while despite the fact that quetzals typically inhabit cloud forests. The fact that they are being divided into much smaller patches is what is known as a principal threat to their survival. Resplendent Quetzals are known to relocate in lower elevated areas during the summertime when precipitation is known to increase, their patterns in movement are most likely correlated to an surplus of ripe Lauraceae fruits.

Etymology

The name ''quetzal'' is from Nahuatl , "large brilliant tail feather" (''American Audubon Dictionary'') or "tail coverts of the quetzal" (''

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary ''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758–1843), as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's n ...

''), from the Nahuatl

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...

= "stand up" used to refer to an upstanding plume of feathers. The word entered English through

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

. The word ''quetzal'' was originally used for just the

, the long-tailed quetzal of Guatemala, (more specifically the area of Northern Guatemala known as the Petén) which is the

and the name of the

currency A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general ...

of Guatemala. It still often refers to that bird specifically but now also names all the species of the genera ''Pharomachrus'' and ''Euptilotis''. ''Pharomachrus'' is from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

, "mantle", and , "long", referring to the wing and tail coverts of the resplendent quetzal (the second ''h'' is unexplained). The quetzal is also known in Spanish as the .

Species

Genus ''

Pharomachrus ''Pharomachrus'' is a genus of birds in the family Trogonidae. ''Pharomachrus'' is from Ancient Greek ''pharos'', "mantle", and ''makros'', "long", referring to the wing and tail coverts of the resplendent quetzal (the second ''h'' is unexplaine ...

'': *

Crested quetzal The crested quetzal /ketSAHL/ (''Pharomachrus antisianus'') is a species of bird in the family Trogonidae native to South America, where it is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropica ...

, ''Pharomachrus antisianus''. *

Golden-headed quetzal The golden-headed quetzal or corequenque (''Pharomachrus auriceps'') is a strikingly coloured bird in the genus ''Pharomachrus''; it is also referred to as ''Trogon auriceps''. It is found in moist mid-elevation forests from eastern Panama to nor ...

, ''Pharomachrus auriceps''. *

White-tipped quetzal The white-tipped quetzal (''Pharomachrus fulgidus'') is a species of bird in the family Trogonidae found in Venezuela, Colombia, and Guyana. Two subspecies have been described. ''Pharomachrus fulgidus fulgidus'' is found in the mountains of n ...

, ''Pharomachrus fulgidus''. *

Resplendent quetzal The resplendent quetzal (''Pharomachrus mocinno'') is a small bird found in southern Mexico and Central America, with two recognized subspecies, ''P. m. mocinno'' and ''P. m. costaricensis''. These animals live in tropical forests, particularly ...

, ''Pharomachrus mocinno''. *

Pavonine quetzal The pavonine quetzal (''Pharomachrus pavoninus'') is a species of bird in the family Trogonidae, the trogons. It is also known at the peacock trogon, red-billed train bearer, or ''viuda pico rojo'' in Spanish. The pavonine quetzal lives in the N ...

, ''Pharomachrus pavoninus''. Genus ''Euptilotis'': *

Eared quetzal The eared quetzal (''Euptilotis neoxenus''), also known as the eared trogon, is a near passerine bird in the trogon family, Trogonidae. It is native to streamside pine-oak forests and canyons in the Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico south to ...

, ''Euptilotis neoxenus''. : ''Euptilotis neoxenus'' is related to ''Pharomachrus'' and is called the eared quetzal by some authorities, such as the American Ornithologists' Union, but the eared trogon by others.

References

External links

*
Trogon videos
including quetzals, on the Internet Bird Collection
A study about quetzal
The quetzal description and habitat {{Trogons Trogonidae Bird common names

Conservation status

Etymology

Species

See also

References

External links