Eared Trogonimmigrant or visitor? The story of the appearance of Euptilotis neoxenusin the mountains of southern Arizona Dale A. Zimmerman Innes, in the South Fork of Cave Creek rITHOUTavian occurrenceDOUBTTHE MOSTin the extraordinary Southwest Canyon in the Chiricahuas,saw and heard an during 1977was the appearancein Arizona's unfamiliar large bird that looked like a Ch•ricahuaMountains of Euptilotisneoxenus, trogon. She did not see it well. Nevertheless, the Eared Trogon, heretofore known only her report at the American Museum's South- from the mountains of northwestern Mexico. west Research Station promptedRuth Morse Even there, few ornithologistshave seen the to mention that three days earlier, in the speciesin life. Duringthe pastdecade or so, South Fork, she too had observed a trogon w•th better roads penetrating the remote "that squealed." To Richard Taylor, a local S•erra Madre, and more accommodations Forest Service employee who had been attractive to tourists, small numbers of avid studying the canyon's Elegant or Coppery- b•rdwatchers began to visit Durango and tailed Trogons for some time, this called for S•naloa in search of this and other endemics. investigation. He had never heard Trogon Stall,only a scanthalf-dozen of my dedicated elegans utter notes answeringthis descrip- b•rding friends have found the bird, and I tion. On October 23 he and Vincent Roth m•ssed it on each of my visits. It is a little- identified the moot bird as a male Eared known, low-density species,fully deserving Trogon. The following day, they, Barbara the term rare. At least one record exists from Roth, Sally and Walter Spofford and Bert near Colonia Garcia in Chihuahua, only 95 and Millie Schaughencymade a concerted malessouth of the international boundary (R. effort to document its presence. All saw the R•dgway,Birds of North andMiddle America, bird well, and they secured tape recordings U.S. Natl. Mus. Bull. 50, Part 5, 1911.). and photographs. Farther west, near the Chihuahua-Sonora A few days later the news was on most of hne, J.T. Marshall, Jr. (Birds of Pine-Oak the country's rare bird alerts, and hopeful, Woodland in Southern Arizona and Adjacent eager birders were flying and driving in from Mexico, Pacific Coast Avifauna 32, 1957), all points of the compass.Sally Spoffordtele- foundit asfar northas the Upper Rio Gavil•.n phoned the information to me from Portal, and the Arch Valley in the Sierra Madre. The and I'm certain there was no more excited a latter site is about 135 airline miles southeast recipient of the news than I. (Having had of the Chiricahuas. Although these localities field experience with 932 of the 1000birds on he not far away, probably no one ever seri- the Mexican list over the past three decades, ously considered this scarce bird a likely most of the few remaininglandbirds are diffi- candidate for occurrence in the United States. cult to find.) To have one of my two "most- On the morning of October 18, 1977, Kim wanted" Mexican species a mere two hours Volume32, Number 2 135 away in our own country was difficult to headed, rather stocky bird, built more like a believe. female quetzal than one of the smaller trogons.In profile, his lower back and rump projected outward to an extreme degree. ONGwereBEFORE in the carDAYBREAK, en route my to Cavewife Creek.and I Even when we arrived,people were scattered E WASEXCEEDINGLY VOCIFEROUS. Each along two milesof trail, largely silent, ears flight, except those shortones to snatch and eyes straining. Few birds were in evi- a madrone berry, was accompaniedby a loud dence. Mexican Jayscalled occasionally, an cac-ac-ac-ac. Upon alighting he produced Arizona Woodpeckerrattled, and at intervals the squeal,or squeal-chuck,invariably with a we heard the chatter of Bridled Titmice. We pronounced pump of his handsometail; he were better prepared than most birders, gave this call repeatedly. At intervals a knowingfrom Ted Parker'stape recordings wholly different sound was uttered--a series the vocalizationsof nestingEared Trogons in of more melodioustremolos in a minor key, Durango, andwe had alsoheard a tape made initially very soft but rapidly increasingin of the Chiricahuabird two daysearlier. But it volume and becoming sufficientlyloud to be did us little good. Although someonefound audible at 200 meters:eeep eeepEEEP EEEP an Elegant Trogonfar up the canyon,a full EEEP. It was somewhatraptor-like, bringing day's work by over 50 experiencedpersons to mind the insistentfood call of a young d•sclosedno trace of Euptilotis.Disappoint- Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus). Walter ment was great. Further, there was Bill Spofford later told me it reminded him of a Roe's disquietingreport of the EaredTrogon nestlingPeregrine's begging call. This "song- being pursuedby a Sharp-shinnedHawk on call" was not accompaniedby tail-pumping the precedingafternoon. After recording all three vocalizations, I Then three days later Sally phonedagain. played back a bit of his voice and to the song- The bird was back! Our limbs still feelingthe call he immediately respondedby flying high effects of the precedingweekend's repeated in my direction. He then perched some 30 treks up and down the canyon, we arrived at meters above ground in a tall cypresswhere South Fork Campgroundearly on November he repeated the call several times. Not 12 prepared for extensive hiking. But we wanting to risk driving him away I refrained hardly had gone two hundred paces when from further experimentation after a second that distinctive, loud upslurred squeal-- try with the recorder producedan identical vagttely reminiscent of a Great-tailed result. A poor whistled imitation also Grackle's (Cassidix mexicanus)but with a prompted the bird to fly nearer and to repeat brief terminal 'chuck' -- announced our bird. his call. Seconds later it flew from an Arizona The trogon' s eye-ringwas merely gray, not cypress,cackling loudly and flashingits white red as depicted in the Peterson-Chalifguide ventral tail surface, distinctly calling to (A Field Guide to Mexican Birds, Houghton mind a ResplendentQuetzal (Pharomachrus Mifflin, New York, 1973). Nor was the bill rnoctnno)--probably a closer relative of truly black; it was instead gray and very Euptilotis than of any other Mexican trogon. pale--almost blue-gray--at the base of the At least two inches longer than an Elegant mandible. The bird's iris was black-looking, Trogon and with longer wings than I had the inside of its mouth deep orange. Once, expected, the Eared was impressivelylarge near at hand, as he thrust his head forward to overhead.Its ampletail waswidespread, and call, his slim, almost filamentous ear-tufts as it swooped into a madrone tree the blue showed momentarily. Most of the time they iridescence again recalled my first quetzal were invisible, flattenedagainst the head. In over a Chiapas cloud forest years ago, proper light his back was vividly green and appearing as a red, white and blue bird with this continued around in front to meet the no hint of green anywhere. Similarly, no bright geranium red of the lower breast and green was visible at first in the backlighted belly. From above, in all lights, the tail was Eared Trogon, viewed as he was againstthe shining blue. The head, however, seemedto sky Perched, he impressedme as a small- largely lack iridescence, and I assumedthe 136 AmericanBirds, March 1978 bird to be in subadult plumage. Satisfied with numerous views, detailed notes and a reel of good tape, we were back in Silver City by noon of the same day. I con- tinued to give much thought to the trogon, but suppressedthe desire to spend more time along Cave Creek in deference to other duties. Then a week later Sally was again on the telephone. Would I believe two Eared Trogons? David Wharton had seen the second bird, a female, on November 16, and Dr. Charles McMoran saw them both the following day. Despite the reports of these reliable observers, the presenceof two birds seemed nearly incredible, so with Allan Zim- merman I was on the South Fork Trail again early on November 19. We found the Chiri- cahuas manufacturing their own weather once more. Dense cloud obscured the higher Female (sub-adult?)Eared Trogon, South Fork, peaks and spilled mistily into the various Cave Creek Canyon, Nov. 26, 1977. Photo/ canyons. Patches of snow showed through Richard Taylor. the high trees above us. It was violently their insect food in warmer weather, were windy, and we feared the trogons would be largely securedon the wing. Noteworthy was silenced. Surely any notes uttered could the trogon's abrupt descentfrom a branch• scarcely be heard above the roar of wind just as ff it suddenlyfell4efore levellingout down the canyon, the accompanyingnoise of and darting to a fruit cluster. swaying conifers and the veritable clatter of Before we left the Chiricahuas that day, I big dry sycamore leaves falling by the hun- told Walter Spofford that the male trogon we dreds on all sides. viewed appeareddifferent in certain respects from the one I describedin detail in my notes UCKILY,BARRY ZIMMER was up the trail a week earlier. There obviously were two and by good fortune he had seen both trogons in the vicinity; could there be three? trogons minutes earlier. Though largely Spofford, too, had wondered about this silent, what we assumed to be the male called because of near-simultaneousreports of a occasionally and between gusts we tracked male in separate localities. However, the him down. To be sure, a femme with slaty birds regularly covered a mile or more of the head and gray-brown breast accompanied canyon bottom once or twice each day, and him, perching nearby and following each they were known to move rapidly.