Green-backed Trogon Trogon viridis
(aka White-tailed Trogon)

Brazilian name:
Surucuá-grande-de-barriga-amarela
Male White-tailed Trogon, Linhares, Espírito Santo, Brazil, March 2004 - click for larger image Brazil and Ecuador

The Green-backed Trogon is found in the Amazon and Orinoco basins. There is a disjunct population in eastern Brazil. See the distribution map at Birdlife International.

It inhabits a variety of forest and woodland habitats where it feeds on fruits, berries and insects.

They usually excavate a nest hole out of a termite nest in a tree.

Male White-tailed Trogon, Linhares, Espírito Santo, Brazil, March 2004 - click for larger image Trogon species can be very similar but the main features to remember for the male Green-backed Trogon are its almost white tail, its yellow belly and its violet breast and hood with no white line between belly and breast. Also look for the colour of the eye-ring which is light blue. Its back is green and the wings are black with thin white lines.

The female, seen here in photos 3, 4 and 5, is grey rather than green and violet and has more black on the tail but still has the yellow belly and the pale blue eye-ring.

Until recently this species has been lumped with White-tailed Trogon T. chionurus

Female White-tailed Trogon, Palmarí, near Tabatinga, Amazonas, Brazil, September 2003 - click for larger image
Female White-tailed Trogon, Palmarí, near Tabatinga, Amazonas, Brazil, September 2003 - click for larger image
Female White-tailed Trogon, Linhares, Espírito Santo, Brazil, March 2004 - click for larger image
Male White-tailed Trogon, Camacan, Bahia, Brazil, November 2008 - click for larger image
Male White-tailed Trogon, Camacan, Bahia, Brazil, November 2008 - click for larger image
Male Sani Lodge, Ecuador, November 2019 - click for larger image
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