The Surucua trogon (''Trogon surrucura'') is a species of bird in the family

Trogonidae 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 ...

, the quetzals and trogons. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

Taxonomy and systematics

The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and the

Clements taxonomy ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'' is a book by Jim Clements which presents a list of the bird species of the world. The most recent printed version is the sixth edition (2007), but has been updated yearly, the last version in 2022 ...

recognize two subspecies of Surucua trogon, the nominate ''T. s. surrucura'' and ''T. s. aurantius''.

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

's ''

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. T ...

'' (HBW) treats these two forms as separate species, the "southern" and "northern" Surucua trogons respectively.Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ Retrieved August 25, 2021HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world'' Version 5. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v5_Dec20.zip xls zipped 1 MBretrieved May 27, 2021

Description

The nominate subspecies ''T. s. surrucura'' is long and weighs . The male has a blackish face and throat with an orange ring around the eye. The crown, neck, and breast are royal blue and the back a coppery green that transitions to turquoise-green on the upperside of the tail. The folded wing has fine

vermiculation Vermiculation is a surface pattern of dense but irregular lines, so called from the Latin ''vermiculus'' meaning "little worm" because the shapes resemble worms, worm-casts, or worm tracks in mud or wet sand. The word may be used in a number of ...

that looks gray at a distance. The belly is pinkish red and the flanks gray. The underside of the tail is white with a black bar across the end. The female is mostly gray with the red of the belly beginning lower. Instead of the orange ring around the eye there are small white spots before and after it. The underside of the tail has a black and white pattern. ''T. s. aurantius'' is about long. The male differs from the nominate by having a yellow eye ring and an orange belly. The female's belly is yellowish white to orange-yellow.Collar, N., J. del Hoyo, and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Surucua Trogon (''Trogon surrucura''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, B. K. Keeney, P. G. Rodewald, and T. S. Schulenberg, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.surtro1.01 retrieved October 25, 2021

Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies of Surucua trogon is found from eastern Paraguay and northeastern Argentina east into Uruguay and in Brazil as far north as southeastern Tocantins. ''T. s. aurantius'' has a more restricted range in east central and eastern Brazil from Bahia south to São Paulo state. They inhabit the mid levels of

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

and well-developed

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

and semideciduous woodland. ''T. s. aurantius'' often associates with bamboo. ''T. s. surrucura'' occurs as high as in Bahia, in Minas Gerais, and higher still in Rio de Janeiro state. ''T. s. aurantius'' occurs up to about .

Behavior

Migration

The more northerly ''T. s. aurantius'' appears to be a year round resident in its range. ''T. s. surrucura'' is mostly sedentary but the southernmost birds move north for the austral winter.

Feeding

The Surucua trogon's diet includes a wide variety of insects, both adults and larva, and also fruits and occasionally flowers. It sometimes joins

mixed-species foraging flock A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These ar ...

Breeding

The Surucua trogon's breeding season spans from September to December and possibly into January. The nest is a cavity in a decayed tree or an arboreal termite nest. The one described clutch contained three eggs.

Vocalization

The Surucua trogon's song is "an ascending sequence of moderately high-pitched, 14–20 full 'diu' or 'kwa' notes, which increase slightly in amplitude". It makes a "kiarr" warning call.

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

follows HBW taxonomy and so treats the southern and northern Surucua trogons separately. It assesses both as being of Least Concern. The population of neither has been quantified but both are believed to be decreasing. Both subspecies are found in several protected areas but outside them are known to be affected by forest fragmentation.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1267847 Surucua trogon Birds of the Atlantic Forest Surucua trogon Taxa named by Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot Taxonomy articles created by Polbot