Family Trogonidae
Collared Trogon
Trogon collaris
In Spanish: Trogón Collarejo (Viuda Roja, Quetzal Macho)
- Resident
Monteverde's cloud forest: the reserve, Santa Elena and Curi-Cancha. All year.
Leave the quetzal aside and this is the trogon on these pages that climbs highest, to about 2,300 m in Costa Rica. At Monteverde it is one of the birds our trips name for the cloud forest mornings, with the Three-wattled Bellbird and Lesson’s Motmot, and its call is two or three plaintive notes: kyow-kyow.
Its nest hole is often so shallow that much of the sitting bird shows outside it.
Where to see it
- Hotspot page
- Named place
- Nearby lodge (numbers match the cards)
- Monteverde Cloud Forest Reservein the cloud forest, with Lesson’s Motmot and the Keel-billed Toucan.
- Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserveour trips that bird here name it, with the bellbird, for the same cloud forest.
- Curi-Cancha Reserve, Monteverdeon the same walk as Lesson’s Motmot and the Keel-billed Toucan, a trail that climbs from pasture edge into primary forest.
Nearby lodges
Within 20 km of a place on the map, in the same zone.
- 1
Trapp Family Lodge0.7 km from Monteverde Cloud Forest ReserveSee the lodge
How to recognise it
About 25 to 29 cm, close to the length of a sheet of letter paper. The male's breast is metallic green, then a white band, then a bright red belly and vent, the feathers under the base of the tail. The female is olive brown where he is green, and her belly is a duller red. Now look under the tail. Barred black and white means Collared. Plain slate grey means the Slaty-tailed Trogon, a bigger bird of lower forest. It often travels along the edge of a mixed feeding flock, several species moving through the trees together, without really joining it. Besides the slow call it gives a faster kyow kyow-kyow.
Where it lives
Humid montane forest and several lower forest types, up to about 2,300 m in Costa Rica. Three subspecies are here, from the northwest to the centre of the country. Some field guides of the last decade split the birds of central Costa Rica off under another name; the official list now treats them as one species.
When to see it
All year.
Trips that find it
- Birding in Costa Rica's Northern Zone11 nightsSee the trip
- Birding in Costa Rica's Top Three Destinations9 nightsSee the trip
- Costa Rica Classic Birding, All Inclusive8 nightsSee the trip
Tell us when you are travelling and our team in Costa Rica builds the trip around the birds you want to see.
Plan my birding tripHow we know this 2 sources, each read on the date shown
- Wikipedia: Collared trogon read 4 November 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collared_trogon - Wikipedia: Slaty-tailed trogon read 4 November 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaty-tailed_trogon