Baird's trogon is a bird species belonging to the family Trogonidae, which includes quetzals and trogons. It is native to Costa Rica and Panama. The species is named in honor of Spencer Fullerton Baird, a renowned naturalist of the 19th century who served as the first curator of the Smithsonian Institution.
Region
Southern Central America (Pacific slope of Costa Rica and western Panama)
Typical Environment
Occurs primarily in humid lowland and foothill evergreen forests on the Pacific slope, including tall primary forest, riverine corridors, and well-shaded secondary growth. It keeps to the interior and edges of mature forest, often near streams. Birds perch quietly in the midstory to subcanopy and may venture to forest edges when fruiting trees are available.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 900 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
Baird's trogon is a Pacific-slope forest specialist of southern Central America, named for the 19th‑century naturalist Spencer Fullerton Baird. It favors mature lowland rainforest and is notably sensitive to deforestation and fragmentation. Like many trogons, it nests in cavities, often using arboreal termite nests or rotten wood.
Temperament
solitary and quiet
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats between perches
Social Behavior
Usually encountered alone or in pairs, remaining motionless for long periods on shaded perches. Pairs maintain small territories during the breeding season. Nests are excavated in soft, decayed wood or in active or abandoned arboreal termite nests; both sexes participate in excavation and incubation.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Song is a series of mellow, hollow cooing notes delivered in a measured tempo, often accelerating slightly. Calls include soft cow or kow notes that carry through dense forest, especially at dawn.
Plumage
Male with glossy metallic green head and upperparts, narrow white breast band, and bright orange-red belly; underside of tail white with bold black barring. Female is duller with brownish head and back, grayish breast, and warm buffy to cinnamon underparts; tail pattern similar to male but less contrasting. Both sexes have a soft, velvety feather texture typical of trogons.
Diet
Takes a mixed diet of small fruits (especially figs and other soft berries) and a variety of arthropods such as beetles, katydids, and caterpillars. It typically sallies from a perch to snatch insects and makes short forays to pluck fruit in the midstory. Prey is often swallowed whole, and indigestible parts are later regurgitated as pellets.
Preferred Environment
Feeds in the shaded midstory and subcanopy of mature forest and along forested streams. Will also use fruiting trees at forest edges and in older secondary growth when available.
