The male's two elongated tail coverts trail up to a metre behind him through the cloud forest
Resplendent quetzal — the coverts are not true tail feathers.
Nature · Birds
Resplendent quetzal
Near Threatened · 20,000–50,000 birds
Pharomachrus mocinno — Trogonidae
A trogon of Central American cloud forest, iridescent emerald-green above with a crimson belly, and in the male two enormously elongated tail coverts that trail up to a metre behind him in flight. It is the national bird of Guatemala, gives its name to the Guatemalan currency, and was sacred to the Maya and Aztecs, whose god Quetzalcoatl took its name. It is Near Threatened, chiefly through cloud-forest clearance.
How to spot them
- ▸Metallic emerald or golden-green head, back and wings, crimson breast and belly, white undertail in the male
- ▸Male's two greatly elongated upper tail coverts, up to about 1 m, streaming and rippling in flight
- ▸A helmet-like crest of bristly feathers over the forehead and a short yellow bill (male)
- ▸Sits motionless and upright in the canopy for long periods; flies out to pluck wild avocados on the wing
- ▸A soft, whining, two-note whistle, often rising then falling; also a deep clucking
How to know it
The national bird of Guatemala, whose currency is named after it
Resplendent quetzal — the Guatemalan quetzal.
The Aztec feathered-serpent god took his name from this bird and the word for serpent
Quetzalcoatl; the resplendent quetzal's plumes were sacred.
It nests in a hole in a rotten tree, where the male's long plumes stick out and are often bent or broken
Resplendent quetzal.
Swallows wild avocados of the laurel family whole and regurgitates the stones, dispersing the seed
Resplendent quetzal — a key disperser of Lauraceae.
Monteverde in Costa Rica and Guatemala's Biotopo del Quetzal are the classic places to look for it
Resplendent quetzal — a cloud-forest specialist, Near Threatened.
The Maya and Aztecs took its plumes for headdresses but it was a capital crime to kill the bird
Resplendent quetzal.
Quick-fire facts
- •Body length 36–40 cm; the male's tail streamers add up to about 65–100 cm
- •IUCN Red List: Near Threatened, with a population usually given as 20,000–50,000 birds and declining
- •The species name honours the Spanish naturalist José Mariano Mociño; it was described by Pablo de la Llave in 1832
- •The quetzal appears on Guatemala's flag and coat of arms as well as its banknotes and coins
- •Range: cloud forest from southern Mexico (Chiapas) through Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica to western Panama
- •It is an altitudinal migrant, moving down the mountains outside the breeding season to follow fruiting trees
- •Both sexes incubate, the male by day with his streamers hanging out of the nest hole
- •Wild avocados and other Lauraceae fruit dominate the diet; nestlings are also fed insects, frogs and lizards
- •A legend holds that the bird's breast turned red with the blood of the Maya at the Spanish conquest, and that it has not sung since
Drill it — 8 cards
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Sources
- American Bird Conservancy — Resplendent Quetzal