Trogons | Trogonidae

Trogons | Trogones

From a fixed perch the foliage is scanned; as soon as a large grasshopper, caterpillar or mantis is spotted, a short fluttering flight follows in which the prey is plucked from leaf or twig on the wing, after which the bird returns to the same or a neighbouring branch. Large prey is beaten against the perch before being swallowed. Fruit is taken the same way, snatched in flight and swallowed whole; the stones pass out undigested later, so the birds scatter seeds through the forest. The nest is a cavity in a dead trunk or a thick, rotting limb, gnawed out with the bill or taken over from a woodpecker, and is left unlined; both parents incubate in turn and feed the naked chicks. The voice is a series of low, hoarse, evenly repeated notes, soft and muffled close by but carrying far through the forest and hard to place; when disturbed the bird gives a sharp rattle and jerks its tail up and down.