Guianan Trogon / Violette Trogon

Guianan Trogon (Trogon violaceus)

Pictures (click on them to enlarge)
© Foek Chin Joe	© Eltjo Schut	© Klaas de Jong
© Dominiek Plouvier	© Armida Madngisa nature guide	French Guiana © Matthias Fernandez
French Guiana © Matthias Fernandez	French Guiana © Matthias Fernandez

Photo of a male Violaceous Trogon, made by Foek Chin Joe in Suriname in 2005. The blue crown (instead of shiny green for the black-throated trogon) and the many black stripes in the tail (unlike the resembling white-tailed trogon) and the yellow eye-ring tell that it is a violaceous trogon. Then a picture of an Violaceous Trogon seen by Eltjo Schut on the Jodensavanne in March 2007 and one by Matthias fernandez seen in the Nouragues nature reserve in French Guiana in december 2013.
It is commonly seen in many places in Suriname, but not in the cultivated areas in the coastal region. It eats insects and fruits.
Sean Dilrosun made a VERY BEAUTIFUL video of a Guianan Trogon showing off.

Video (click the link or the 'play'-button to see)
Video recording of a Guianan Trogon © ;

Distribution

Each small square indicates the observation of at least one (group) of these birds, the medium ones at least four observations on different days and the largest ones ten or more. The color of each square indicates: blue for coastal area, yellow for savanna and red for rainforest.
Not all places in Suriname have been equally often visited by birders, so the distribution of the squares gives an indication of the whereabouts of the birds, but also of the birders. Some places deep in the south have no reported bird observations, by experienced birders, within 60 kilometer.

Abundance in different areas
coastal zone (blue dots on the map) :
northern savannas (yellow dots (in the north)) :
rainforest under 400 m (red dots) :
rainforest above 400 m (red dots) :
Sipaliwini savanna (yellow dots (in the south)) :
A blank is shown if not convincingly reported in the zone. Data interpreted by Arie Spaans, Otte Ottema and Jan Hein Ribot.

Names
Scientific name:	Trogon violaceus
Order:	Trogoniformes
Family:	Trogonidae, 5 in Suriname
Dutch:	Violette Trogon
English:	Guianan Trogon
Sranan ('Surinamese'):	Donfowru
Guyana:
Papiamento:
Spanish (Venezuela):	Sorocuá violáceo amazónico
Portugese (Brazil):
Arowak:
Carib:
French:	Trogon aurora

Observations through the year	Observations of breeding through the year

The 434 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.	The reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest. Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences. The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Observations through the year

Observations of breeding through the year

The 434 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.

The reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest.

Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences.
The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Last update: September 2024 by Jan Hein Ribot. Please mail your comments, photos to: jhribot ( residing at ) gmail (point!) com.
observations can be uploaded to suriname.observation.org or ebird.org ).