Resplendent Quetzal

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For other uses, see Resplendent Quetzal (disambiguation)}}}.

The Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno) is a spectacular bird of the trogon family. It is found from southern Mexico to western Panama (unlike the other quetzals, which are found in South America and eastern Panama). There are two subspecies, P. m. mocinno and P. m. costaricensis, the Costa Rican Resplendent Quetzal. This quetzal plays an important role in Mesoamerican myth.

This species is 36 cm (14 in) long, plus up to 64 cm (25 in) of tail streamer for the male, and weighs 210 g (7 oz).

Resplendent Quetzals have a green body (showing iridescence from green-gold to blue-violet) and red breast. Their green upper tail coverts hide their tails and in breeding males are particularly splendid, being longer than the rest of the body. The wing coverts are also unusually long and give a fringed appearance. The male has a helmet-like crest.

The "song" is a treble syllable described as kyow, etc., often in pairs, which may be repeated monotonously. Quetzals have other unmusical calls as well.

They have a mixed diet, consuming, for example, insects, fruit (especially of the laurel family), and frogs. Their habitat is mountain forests. They lay two pale blue eggs in a nest placed in a hole which they carve in a rotten tree. A tree in such an advanced stage of decomposition is susceptible to weather damage, and the availability of suitable trees may limit the quetzal population.

When a quetzal is sitting on its eggs in the hole, its long tail feathers are folded forwards over its back and out of the hole.

Contents

1 Myth and legend
2 Etymology
3 External images
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

Myth and legend

The bird features prominently in the region's pre-Columbian mythology and in modern legend. Ancient Mesoamerican rulers and some nobility of other ranks wore headdresses made from quetzal feathers, symbolically connecting them to one of their deities, Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl was the creator god and god of wind, often depicted with grey hair. In several Mesoamerican languages, the term for quetzal can also mean precious, sacred or erected.

Until recently, it was thought that the Resplendent Quetzal could not be bred or held for any long time in captivity, and indeed it was noted for usually killing itself soon after being captured or caged. For this reason it is a traditional symbol of liberty. However, a zoo in Mexico has kept this species since 1992, and in 2004 successful breeding in captivity was announced (Orellana, 2004).

The Resplendent Quetzal is Guatemala's national bird, and an image of it is on the flag and the national seal of that country. It is also the name of the local currency (abbreviation GTQ).

The bird is of great relevance to Guatemalan culture, being a character in the widely popular legend of the local hero Tecún Umán, a prince and warrior of the Quiché Maya during the latter stages of the Spanish conquest of the region. This quetzal was his nahual (spirit guide).

The Quiché repelled several attacks from the Spanish army, even though outmatched in weaponry (guns, armor and cavalry against spears and arrows).

Legend has it that on the day the conquistador Pedro de Alvarado fought against Tecún Umán, there was a quetzal flying overhead. On the first strike Tecún Umán, on foot, managed to disable Pedro de Alvarado's horse. Alvarado was then given another horse and on the second strike ran through Tecún Umán's chest with a spear.

The quetzal flew down and landed on Tecún Umán, dipping its chest in the warrior prince's blood. It is there that the bird acquired its distinctive red chest feathers.^[link]

Whether or not these events actually took place and to what extent is debatable, but it is true that the Maya fought fiercely for their land and freedom during the conquest.

One Guatemalan legend claims that the quetzal used to sing beautifully before the Spanish conquest, but has been silent ever since — but will sing once again when the land is truly free.

Etymology

The epithet mocinno is Llave's Latinization of the name of the biologist J. M. Mociño, a mentor of his. (It is sometimes spelled mocino, but "ñ" was formerly spelled "nn" in Spanish, so the spelling with "nn" is justified and in any case now official.^{[link], [link]})

The word "quetzal" came from Nahuatl, where quetzal (from the root quetz = "stand") meant "tall upstanding plume" and then "quetzal tail feather"; from that quetzaltotōtl means "quetzal-feather bird" and thus "quetzal".^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

External images

http://www.cayaya-birding.com/slideshow/quetzal.jpg
http://www.dimijianimages.com/CostaRica-page3/quetzal-close.jpg male quetzal looking out of its hole
http://www.monteverdeinfo.com/images/resplendent-quetzal.jpg
http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/J/Kevin.A.Jaeger-1/images/The%20Quetzal%20@%20monteverde.jpg
http://www.innerquest.com/images/Resplendent%20Quetzal%201.jpg
http://www.panama-pictures.com/Panama-images/ecologia%20aves%20quetzal.jpg

References

[The Biogeography of the Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno)], a student project by Paul Pribor, 1999

(A Resplendent Quetzal chick hatched at the Miguel Álvarez del Toro Zoo, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, Mexico, and reached the age of six weeks at the time of the report. A short excerpt is visible on [a Google search page].)

External links

[ADW: Pharomachrus mocinno: Information]
[Mangoverde.com] For images of four quetzal species, select "Trogons".
[14 December 2004, Nature: Mystery of 'chirping' pyramid decoded] Discussion of a theory that a Mayan pyramid makes echoes of handclaps that resemble quetzal vocalizations.
*[ocasa.org: An archaeological study of chirped echo from the Mayan pyramid of Kukulkan at Chichen Itza], with [wav files of a quetzal] and of ["two Quetzal bird chirps (recorded in a rain forest) followed by two chirped echoes stimulated by a handclaps at the pyramid" (AV)]
[Resplendent Quetzal videos] on the Internet Bird Collection

image:Quetzal-001.jpg