Amazonian Black-throated Trogon

Like most trogons, the Amazonian black-throated has distinctive male and female plumages with soft colorful feathers. This relatively small species is 24 to 26 cm (9.4 to 10 in) long and weighs 45 to 60 g (1.6 to 2.1 oz). Adult males of the nominate subspecies T. r. rufus have a black forehead and face with a pale blue ring of bare skin around their eye. They are metallic green to blue on their crown, back, lesser wing coverts, rump, and uppertail coverts. Their flight feathers, primary coverts, and secondary coverts are various patterns of black and white. The upper side of their tail is metallic green to blue with a black band at the end. The underside of their tail has narrow black bars and moderate-width white bars. Their chin and throat are black, their upper breast metallic green to blue, and their lower breast and belly are yellow, sometimes with a thin white band below the upper breast. Adult females have mostly brown upperparts; their crown is darker and their rump and uppertail coverts lighter. Their face is brown with a pale blue ring of bare skin around their eye. Their primaries are mostly fuscous-black with a narrow white edge on their outer webs. Their secondaries and their greater and median coverts are copper with a dusky tinge. Their lesser wing coverts are black with brown tips. …

The subspecies of the Amazonian black-throated trogon are found thus:

T. r. rufus: from eastern Venezuela east through the Guianas and northern Brazil to the Atlantic T. r. sulphureus: east-central and southeastern Colombia south through eastern Ecuador into northeastern Peru and east into southern Venezuela, western Brazil, and far northern Bolivia T. r. amazonicus: southern Venezuela and northeastern Brazil T. r. sulphureus and T. r. amazonicus intergrade along the Madeira River as do T. r. rufus and T. r. amazonicus along the Amazon. The Amazonian black-throated trogon generally inhabits the understory to mid-story in the interior of humid primary forest and mature secondary forest, where it favors areas near streams. In Colombia it occurs in terra firme forest, and in southwestern Brazil is sometimes associated with stands of Guadua bamboo. In elevation it reaches 1,400 m (4,600 ft) in Colombia, 700 m (2,300 ft) in Ecuador, 650 m (2,100 ft) in Peru, 900 m (3,000 ft) in Venezuela, but in Bolivia only reaches about 300 m (1,000 ft).

"Trogons and quetzals perch erectly with tail hanging downward, and they may remain motionless and quiet for protracted periods." (emphasis in original)

Movement. The Amazonian black-throated trogon is a year-round resident throughout its range.

Feeding. The Amazonian black-throated trogon's diet has not been detailed but includes both fruit and insects. The usually capture insects by sallying or hovering from a perch and returning to it or another perch to eat. They sometimes follow army ant swarms to capture prey disturbed by the ants. A study in French Guiana found that there the species foraged alone 89% of the time and joined mixed-species feeding flocks at about 11%.

Breeding. Little is known about the Amazonian black-throated trogon's breeding biology. It is assumed to be similar to that of its formerly conspecific northern black-throated trogon, which see here.

Vocalization. Male trogons' song is "far-carrying and hollow...many more will be heard than seen" (emphasis in original). That of the Amazonian black-throated trogon is "a slow, regularly spaced series of 2–6 (typically 3–4) nasal, over-slurred coo notes". The pace and number of notes varies in a minor way among the subspecies. The species' call is a "churr".