Whitehead's trogon facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Whitehead's trogon
Conservation status
Near Threatened (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Trogoniformes
Family:	Trogonidae
Genus:	Harpactes
Species:	H. whiteheadi
Binomial name
Harpactes whiteheadi Sharpe, 1888
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The Whitehead's trogon (Harpactes whiteheadi) is a beautiful bird that lives only on the island of Borneo. It is a type of bird in the Trogonidae family. This bird is not very common and lives in the high mountain forests.

Whitehead's trogon is one of the biggest trogons in Borneo. It is about 29 to 33 centimeters (11 to 13 inches) long. Males and females look different, which is called being sexually dimorphic. The male has a bright red head, neck, and belly. His throat is black, and his chest is grey. The rest of his upper body is a cinnamon color. The female looks similar, but she is cinnamon-brown where the male is red.

This bird was first described by a scientist named Richard Bowdler Sharpe in 1888. He named it after John Whitehead, who was an explorer and collector. There are no different types or subspecies of this bird.

Whitehead's trogon mainly eats insects. But it also enjoys fruits and seeds from plants. We don't know much about how they raise their young. They usually breed between April and June. The International Union for Conservation of Nature says Whitehead's trogon is a near-threatened species. This means its numbers are going down. Losing their forest home is a big problem for them.

About the Whitehead's Trogon Name

An English bird expert, Richard Bowdler Sharpe, first wrote about Whitehead's trogon in 1888. He studied a bird found on Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia. He gave it the scientific name Harpactes whiteheadi. This name puts it in the same group as other Asian trogons. There are no other types of this bird.

The name Harpactes comes from an old Greek word, harpaktes. This word means "robber." The bird's common name and its second scientific name, whiteheadi, honor John Whitehead. He was the first person to collect this bird for science.

What Whitehead's Trogon Looks Like

A male Whitehead's trogon.

Like most trogons, the male and female Whitehead's trogon look different. This is called being sexually dimorphic. The male is much more colorful than the female. This bird is one of the largest trogons in Borneo. It measures about 29 to 33 centimeters (11 to 13 inches) long.

The male has a bright red forehead, top of the head, back of the neck, and sides of the head. He has blue skin around his eyes. The rest of his upper body is cinnamon-brown. His throat is black, which fades into a grey chest. The rest of his underside is red. His wings are mostly black. They have thin white stripes on the secondary feathers and wing coverts.

His tail is mostly white underneath. On top, the two middle tail feathers are cinnamon with a wide black tip. The other tail feathers are mostly black. The feathers on the very outside of his tail are white on the end and along the outer edge. He has a blue beak, pinkish-brown legs and feet, and reddish-brown eyes.

The female looks similar to the male, but her colors are duller. She has cinnamon-brown where the male has red. The stripes on her wings are cinnamon-brown instead of white. Young females look like adult females. However, their entire underside is one color. They do not have the black throat and grey chest of the adults. Their beak also has less blue color.

What Whitehead's Trogon Sounds Like

Whitehead's trogon does not sing or call very often. Its song is a loud series of four to five harsh, slow notes. These notes are all at the same pitch. People describe the sound as "kwau kwau kwau kwau" or "wark wark wark wark." It also makes a rolling "burr" call. Sometimes, this call is followed by a loud, descending "kekekeke."

Where Whitehead's Trogon Lives

Whitehead's trogon lives only on the island of Borneo. It can be found in mountain areas. These areas are usually between 900 and 2000 meters (about 2,950 to 6,560 feet) high. It prefers damp valleys in old, untouched forests. This bird is not common and is a resident species, meaning it stays in the same area.

How Whitehead's Trogon Behaves

Whitehead's trogon is a shy bird. It is easy to miss because it sits quietly in the upper parts of thick forests. It stays in the same area where it lives. Sometimes, it joins groups of different bird species. These groups might include chestnut-hooded and Sunda laughingthrushes. They also join Whitehead's broadbills and Sunda cuckooshrikes.

What Whitehead's Trogon Eats

Like all trogons, Whitehead's trogon mostly eats insects. It catches insects by flying out from a branch. It also picks insects off leaves. Most of the insects it eats are quite large. These include grasshoppers, locusts, stick insects, and leaf insects. But it will also eat small insects like ants.

This bird also eats fruits, seeds, and other plant parts. It usually sits just below the top of the trees. However, it often hunts for food closer to the ground. When it is with mixed bird groups, it usually hunts lower than the other birds. Some Whitehead's trogons have been found with small stones in their stomachs.

Whitehead's Trogon Reproduction

We do not know much about how Whitehead's trogon reproduces. Birds ready to breed have been found in late March and October. The October date might mean they have more than one group of babies. Or it could mean breeding times change in different places.

We know they build nests in April. Young birds have been collected in June. Families have been seen together in July. But no one has ever described their nest or eggs. We also don't know many details about their breeding. For example, we don't know how long the eggs take to hatch. We also don't know how many eggs they lay or how long the young birds stay in the nest. We also don't know how the parents share the job of caring for the babies.

Protecting Whitehead's Trogon

The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed Whitehead's trogon as a near-threatened species. This means it is close to becoming endangered. We don't know exactly how many of these birds there are. But scientists believe their numbers are going down.

Their home is being lost because of logging and farming. This is happening at lower heights on some of the mountains where they live. Protecting their forest homes is very important for these birds.