Trogon - Distribution and Habitat

Distribution and Habitat

The majority of trogons are birds of tropical and subtropical forests. They have a cosmopolitan distribution in the worlds wet tropics, being found in the Americas, Africa and Asia. A few species are distributed into the temperate zone, with one species, the Elegant Trogon, reaching the south of the United States specifically southern Arizona and the surrounding area. The Narina Trogon of Africa is slightly exceptional in that it utilises a wider range of habitats than any other trogon, ranging from dense forest to fairly open savannah, and from the Equator to southern South Africa. It is the most widespread and successful of all the trogons. The Eared Quetzal of Mexico is also able to use more xeric habitats, but preferentially inhabits forests. Most other species are more restricted in their habitat, with several species being restricted to undisturbed primary forest. Within forests they tend to be found in the mid story, occasionally in the canopy.

Some species, particularly the quetzals, are adapted to cooler montane forest. There are a number of insular species; these include a number of species found in the Greater Sundas, one species in the Philippines as well as two monophyletic genera endemic to Cuba and Hispaniola respectively. Outside of South Asia and the Caribbean, however, trogons are generally absent from islands, especially oceanic ones.

Trogons are generally sedentary, with no species known to undertake long migrations. A small number of species are known to make smaller migratory movements, particularly montane species which move to lower altitudes during different seasons. This has been demonstrated using radio tracking in the Resplendent Quetzal in Costa Rica and evidence has been accumulated for a number of other species. The Narina Trogon of Africa is thought to undertake some localised short distance migrations over parts of its range, for example birds of Zimbabwe's plateau savannah depart after the breeding season. A complete picture of these movements is however lacking. Trogons are difficult to study as their thick tarsi (feet bones) make ringing studies difficult.