Trogon melanocephalus
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The black-headed trogon (Trogon melanocephalus) is a species of bird in the family Trogonidae. It is found in Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua. The black-headed trogon is treated as monotypic by the International Ornithological Committee and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World.
This article follows the monotypic model. The black-headed trogon is 27 to 28 cm (11 to 11 in) long and weighs about 74 to 95 g (2.6 to 3.4 oz). Adults of both sexes have slate-black to black head, neck, and chest. A sky-blue ring of bare skin surrounds the dark eye. A thin white line separates the chest from the rest of their underparts, which are cadmium to chrome yellow that becomes lighter at the vent area. The two inner pairs of tail feathers are metallic bronze breen to bluish green with black tips. The next pair are all black and the outermost three pairs are black with wide white tips. Their wings are slate black with some white. Adult males' upperparts are bright metallic... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Pedro Sula | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 2 | Managua | 🇳🇮 Nicaragua | |
| 3 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Woodland Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Black-headed Trogon sighting in Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve on a given day, based on 1,132 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 15th most-seen of the 288 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May
In that month about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Black-headed Trogon in Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve on a given day, against about 30% in August, the lowest month.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-headed 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.
6th of 23
Of the 23 parks where we can rate Black-headed Trogon sightings, Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve ranks 6th at about 50%. The best odds are in Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary (Belize, about 60%), Calakmul Biosphere Reserve (Mexico, about 50%) and Ostional Wildlife Refuge (Costa Rica, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Trogon
The closest relatives of the Black-headed Trogon that you can see in Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve (genus Trogon, New World Trogons) are Gartered Trogon (about 30%) and Collared Trogon (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-headed Trogon is recorded against all the birds logged in Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve (1,132 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.
