Unlimited edition. 18 x 24 inch, museum-quality poster on matte paper.

Before leaving for a March 2023 trip to Belize, I jotted down a list of the bird species I most wanted to encounter. Of the twenty-two birds on the list, only four of them said ‘hello,’ but one of these was the gartered trogon (formerly known as the violaceous trogon). It was a species totally new to me, a “lifer,” in birder parlance. It announced its presence while I was with my two young boys enjoying the reaction of shameplant (Mimosa pudica) to our touch. An unfamiliar call came from the nearby rainforest, and I used the Merlin app to help me identify the species. The AI suggested I was hearing a gartered trogon, so I grabbed my binoculars, told the boys I’d be back in a moment, and rushed off in the direction of the call. Within a minute, I’d located the bird perched high in the canopy above.

What a sight this bird is! The male gartered trogon wears a deep indigo-violet hood; because the color represents the largest share visible in profile, it crowns the color column, as well. The bird’s back, breast, and belly are a pleasing mix of bold yellows and dazzling blues and greens. While the bird’s good looks grab the headline, I’m most taken with the species’ nesting preferences. While these trogons are content excavating nesting cavities in old, rotting trees, their favorite nest sites are active wasp hives or arboreal ant or termite mounds! Although the trogons eat some of the host insects, they don’t consume so many that the hive or mound is abandoned; biologists believe this provides the trogon nest with built in protection, as few predators are willing to tangle with wasps or ants in their pursuit of tasty eggs or chicks.

Note: These archival poster prints feature rich, appealing colors. I encourage customers to take care in handling them until they are framed/protected for display; the darker colors on the matte paper can be scratched. They ship rolled, so customers need to flatten them before framing (or have their framer do so).

Charitable Sales Model: Whenever one of these poster prints is purchased, a charitable contribution equal to 10% of the print’s cost (or $3.60) is made to a nonprofit working to tackle environmental or social challenges. Read more about my charitable sales model here.