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Cuban Trogon | Priotelus temnurus
Cubaanse trogon | Tocororo
The Cuban Trogon, called tocororo in Cuba after its call, is Cuba's national bird: blue, white and red are the colours of the Cuban flag. It is found only in Cuba and can be heard in almost every forest on the island. Like other trogons it sits upright and motionless for long spells on a branch in the middle storey.
Voice
A repeated toco-toco-tocoro-tocoro, the source of the name tocororo, given for long periods at short intervals. Also a low, fast krr-krr-krr and a mournful call.
Recording: FREDERIC Lionel — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
23–28 cm, a large part of it tail. Crown and nape are dark blue with a violet gloss, the face black and the eye red. The bill is largely red. The back and upperwing are green with a bronze sheen; the dark flight feathers are barred white. Throat and breast are white, the belly bright red. The long tail is strongly graduated, with ragged feather tips that look cut with scissors; from below it is white and black. The sexes are similar; the female is slightly smaller with a duller, paler red belly.
Confusion species
There is nothing in Cuba it can be confused with. The only related species in the region, Hispaniolan Trogon Priotelus roseigaster, is found only on Hispaniola.
Habitat
Almost all forest types in Cuba, primary and secondary: moist and semi-evergreen forest, montane forest, pine forest, the limestone forest of the mogotes and dry forest, often near water and in shady places; at all elevations but commonest in the mountains. It eats fruit, flowers and insects, plucked from a leaf or twig in a short sally. It nests in natural tree cavities and old woodpecker holes, sometimes in an arboreal termite nest.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
Only in Cuba: the nominate form Priotelus temnurus temnurus on the main island and the large cays off the coast of Camagüey, the subspecies Priotelus temnurus vescus on the Isla de la Juventud. The species does not occur outside Cuba.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In almost any forest in Cuba, including the Zapata Peninsula, the Sierra del Rosario and the mountains of the east. The call carries far and is the quickest lead; the bird often sits with its back to the observer and is noticed only when it turns to show the red belly.
Conservation status
Not threatened. The species is common in all the larger forest areas of Cuba and also occurs in secondary forest.
Scientific name
Priotelus temnurus | (Temminck, 1825)
Temminck described the species in 1825 as Trogon temnurus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Priotelus was introduced in 1840 by Gray. Priotelus is Greek, from priōn 'saw' and telos 'completion'; the 'saw' probably refers to the serrated tips of the tail feathers, the intent of the second part is unclear. temnurus is Greek, from temnō 'to cut' and oura 'tail': 'cut tail', after the notched, ragged tail feathers. The specimen the first description was based on came from Havana, Cuba.