Trogon chionurus
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The white-tailed trogon (Trogon chionurus) is a species of bird in the trogon family. It is found in tropical humid forests of the Chocó, ranging from Panama, through western Colombia, to western Ecuador. It was formerly considered a subspecies of T. viridis, which is widespread in South America east of the Andes, but under the English name white-tailed trogon (a name now reserved for T. chionurus, leaving T. viridis as the green-backed trogon).
This relatively large trogon is 28 to 30 centimetres (11 to 12 in) long. As most trogons, it is strongly sexually dimorphic. In the male the head and upper breast are dark blue (appears blackish in poor light), and the back is green, becoming bluer on the rump. The lower underparts are orange-yellow. The wings are black, vermiculated with white. The undertail is almost entirely white with only a very narrow black base to each feather. The complete eye-ring is pale bluish. The female white-tailed trogon resembles the male, but has a grey back, head and breast, and rather indistinct black-and-white barring mainly to the inner webs of each tail feather (less on outer webs).
For comparison, the similar but smaller gartered trogon... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Utría National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 2 | San Lorenzo Protected Forest | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 3 | Darién National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 4 | Soberanía National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 5 | Bastimentos Island National Marine Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 6 | Farallones de Cali National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 7 | Parque Natural Metropolitano | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 8 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a White-tailed Trogon sighting in Bastimentos Island National Marine Park on a given day, based on 33 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 297th most-seen of the 375 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a White-tailed Trogon in Bastimentos Island National Marine Park on a given day, against under 5% in December to October, the lowest months. That is one of Bastimentos Island National Marine Park's wettest months, with about 450 mm of rain against 160 mm in March.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White-tailed Trogon sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 8
Of the 8 parks where we can rate White-tailed Trogon sightings, Bastimentos Island National Marine Park ranks 5th at under 5%. The best odds are in Utría National Natural Park (Colombia, about 50%), San Lorenzo Protected Forest (Panama, about 30%) and Darién National Park (Panama, about 30%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White-tailed Trogon is recorded against all the birds logged in Bastimentos Island National Marine Park (33 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
