Trogons and Quetzals belong in the family Trogonidae. They are relatively uniform in appearance having compact bodies, long tails, and short necks. Their legs and feet are weak and short, are essentially unable to walk beyond a very occasional shuffle along a branch. The strong bill is short and the gape wide, particularly in the fruit eating quetzals. Their wings are short but strong. The arrangement of toes on the feet of trogons is also unique amongst birds. It resembles the zygodactyl’s two forward two backward, but Trogons and Quetzals have the inner hallux as the outer hind toe, an arrangement that is referred to as heterodactylous. The plumage of Trogons and Quetzals is iridescent including colors green or deep blue in the upperparts,
and mostly red or yellow in the underparts. The majority are birds of tropical and subtropical forests. Some species, particularly the quetzals, are adapted to cooler montane forest. Trogons feed principally on insects, other arthropods, fruit, and small vertebrates such as lizards to a lesser extent. The most commonly employed foraging technique is a sally-glean flight, where a bird flies from an observation perch to a target on another branch or in foliage. Trogons are generally inactive outside of infrequent feeding flights. Trogons are cavity nesters territorial and monogamous. There are two genera and 12 species of Trogons and Quetzals known to occur in Peru. Photo: Masked Trogon.
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TROCHILIDAE: Hummingbirds – Picaflores