Trogon viridis
Silhouette: Keith Murdock (photo), John E. McCormack, Michael G. Harvey, Brant C. Faircloth, Nicholas G. Crawford, Travis C. Glenn, Robb T. Brumfield & T. Michael Keesey · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The green-backed trogon (Trogon viridis), also known as the Amazonian white-tailed trogon, is a bird in the trogon family Trogonidae. It is widely distributed across the Amazon rainforest with a disjunct population on the southeast coast of Brazil. As with all trogons, this species is sexually dimorphic. The male has a yellow belly without a white breastband, a blue head with a pale-blue orbital eye-ring, a blue bill, a green back and a green tail that is mostly white below. The female is duller with a dark grey head, a dark grey back and some black barring beneath the tail.
The green-backed trogon was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the other trogons in the genus Trogon and coined the binomial name Trogon viridis. Linnaeus based his description on "Le couroucou verd de Cayenne" that had been described and illustrated in 1760 by French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson.
The specific epithet viridis is the Latin word for "green". The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. On the same page of his Systema Naturae Linnaeus introduced the binomial name Trogon... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yasuní National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 2 | Sierra de la Macarena National Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 3 | Anavilhanas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Amacayacu National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 5 | Brownsberg Nature Park | 🇸🇷 Suriname | |
| 6 | Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 7 | Tambopata National Reserve | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 8 | Serra dos Órgãos National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 9 | Manu National Park | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 10 | Itatiaia National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | San Diego Zoo Safari Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Dallas World Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | National Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Green-backed Trogon sighting in Tambopata National Reserve on a given day, based on 309 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 152nd most-seen of the 550 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Green-backed Trogon in Tambopata National Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in March, June and December–January, the lowest months. That is one of Tambopata National Reserve's wettest months, with about 420 mm of rain against 45 mm in July.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Green-backed 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.
7th of 10
Of the 10 parks where we can rate Green-backed Trogon sightings, Tambopata National Reserve ranks 7th at about 10%. The best odds are in Yasuní National Park (Ecuador, about 40%), Sierra de la Macarena National Park (Colombia, about 30%) and Anavilhanas National Park (Brazil, about 30%).
Same genus: Trogon
The closest relatives of the Green-backed Trogon that you can see in Tambopata National Reserve (genus Trogon, New World Trogons) are Black-tailed Trogon (about 30%), Blue-crowned Trogon (about 20%) and Collared Trogon (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Green-backed Trogon is recorded against all the birds logged in Tambopata National Reserve (309 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.
