Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Crested quet­zals are found in the neotrop­ics, in north­ern and west­ern South Amer­ica, in­clud­ing Ecuador, Venezuela, Colom­bia, Peru, and Bo­livia. (Kricher, 1997)

• Biogeographic Regions
• neotropical
  • native

Habi­tat

Crested quet­zals are found in the for­est canopy of sec­ond growth or ma­ture, moist forests, in­clud­ing cloud forests. They are found at el­e­va­tions from 1000 to 3000 me­ters. They are most com­monly ob­served perch­ing qui­etly in dense fo­liage in fruit­ing trees. (Fjeldsa and Krabbe, 1990; Hilty and William, 1986; Skutch, 1944; Wheat­ley, 1995)

• Habitat Regions
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• rainforest
• mountains

• Range elevation

  1000 to 3000 m

  3280.84 to 9842.52 ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Char­ac­ter­is­tic of crested quet­zals is their iri­des­cent green plumage that ex­tends from the head across the back. Fe­males have slightly less vivid plumage than do males. The breast plumage is vivid crim­son and the wings are deep vi­o­let. The beak is finely ser­rated, per­mit­ting a tight grip on food items. The plumage under the beak is a dull turquoise color in com­par­i­son to the bril­liant col­ors of the body. A tuft of emer­ald green and turquoise feath­ers grows from the head, dis­tin­guish­ing crested quet­zals from the other species of tro­gons. Adults grow to about 35.5 cm in length. Males can de­velop an emer­ald green, vi­o­let, and blue tail that can ex­ceed 76 cm in length. The un­der­sides of the tail feath­ers are white, which is also a di­ag­nos­tic char­ac­ter­is­tic of this species. (Dun­ning, 1987; Fjeldsa and Krabbe, 1990; Kricher, 1997; LaBastille, et al., 1972; Meyer de Shauensee, 1966)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger
• male more colorful
• ornamentation

• Average length

  35 cm

  13.78 in

Re­pro­duc­tion

Crested quet­zals form monog­a­mous mat­ing pairs, in which both par­ents care for their young. There is lit­tle avail­able in­for­ma­tion on courtship rit­u­als. More is known about its their close rel­a­tives, re­splen­dent quet­zals. Dur­ing the mat­ing sea­son, male re­splen­dent quet­zals per­form a spi­ral “sky dance” in order to at­tract a fe­male mate. It is thought that the long, col­or­ful tail of crested quet­zal males is im­por­tant in in fe­male choice of a mate, but this has not been stud­ied. (Hilty and William, 1986; Stiles and Skutch, 1989)

• Mating System
• monogamous

The breed­ing sea­son is Feb­ru­ary through June. Crested quet­zals ex­ca­vate a hole in a de­cay­ing tree to cre­ate a nest. The ex­ca­va­tion is thought to play a vital role in re­pro­duc­tion by stim­u­lat­ing ovu­la­tion. Fe­male crested quet­zals lay 1 to 2 eggs that are light blue in color. The in­cu­ba­tion pe­riod is 18 days. Young hatch with their eyes closed, and they re­main closed for the first week of life. Par­ents bring fruits, in­sects, and small am­phib­ians to feed the hatch­lings. Dur­ing the 3rd week the largest and strongest hatch­ling will begin to learn to fly. As soon as the fledg­ling is con­fi­dent in flight, at about 3 to 4 weeks, it will begin to search for its own ter­ri­tory. Fledg­lings often re­main close to the male par­ent for the first few years of life. (Bowes and Allen, 1969; Bowes and Allen, 1969; Stiles and Skutch, 1989)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• induced ovulation
• oviparous

• Breeding interval

  Crested quetzals can breed twice during a breeding season.

• Breeding season

  Crested quetzals breed between February and June.

• Range eggs per season

  2 to 4

• Average time to hatching

  18 days

• Average fledging age

  3 weeks

• Range time to independence

  3 to 4 weeks

Male and fe­male crested quet­zals stay to­gether to feed and pro­tect their off­spring dur­ing the breed­ing sea­son. Males usu­ally in­cu­bate the eggs dur­ing the day, while fe­males in­cu­bate at night. Once the eggs are hatched, both males and fe­males play vital roles in the feed­ing, pro­tec­tion, and teach­ing of their off­spring. Fe­males will often leave the nest be­fore the off­spring are in­de­pen­dent, leav­ing male par­ents to con­tinue feed­ing and pro­tect­ing their off­spring until they are fledged. (Bowes and Allen, 1969)

• Parental Investment
• altricial
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • male
  • protecting
    • male
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • male
  • protecting
    • male
• post-independence association with parents

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Con­ser­va­tion ef­forts of a close rel­a­tive, re­splen­dent quet­zals (Pharo­machrus moc­cino), have shown that breed­ing rates are low and that lifes­pan is short in cap­tiv­ity. This in­for­ma­tion may be sim­i­lar in crested quet­zals, but no re­search has been done. (Bowes and Allen, 1969; Stiles and Skutch, 1989)

Be­hav­ior

Crested quet­zals are soli­tary for­est birds that often sit mo­tion­less for long pe­ri­ods at mid­dle el­e­va­tions of the for­est canopy. Crested quet­zals are poor fly­ers and spend much of their time perch­ing. The flight pat­tern has been de­scribed as un­du­lat­ing. Crested quet­zals can be seen hov­er­ing for short pe­ri­ods of time to pluck fruit from trees. Crested quet­zals do not mi­grate and are ac­tive dur­ing the day. (Bowes and Allen, 1969; Bowes and Allen, 1969; Fjeldsa and Krabbe, 1990; Hilty and William, 1986)

• Key Behaviors
• arboreal
• flies
• diurnal
• motile
• sedentary
• solitary
• territorial

• Average territory size

  333 m^2

Home Range

Crested quet­zals de­fend an av­er­age ter­ri­tory of 333 me­ters squared and from about 4 me­ters off the ground to the canopy. (Wheat­ley, 1995)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Crested quet­zals com­mu­ni­cate through vo­cal­iza­tions. Their most com­mon call sounds like "way-way-wayo." A muf­fled whis­tle can also be heard that re­sem­bles “whee-eoo”. Crested quet­zals com­mu­ni­cate alarm with a short se­ries of “ka” notes. Males also have an ex­tremely long tail with many bright col­ors, which may be used for vi­sual dis­plays for fe­males, but no re­search has been done on this. (Fjeldsa and Krabbe, 1990)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• acoustic

• Other Communication Modes
• choruses

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Crested quet­zals are spe­cial­ized om­ni­vores that pre­fer fruits of trees in the fam­ily Lau­raceae. These birds eat 41 species of fruits in the fam­ily Lau­raceae. Crested quet­zals also eat small am­phib­ians, rep­tiles, and in­sects. (Meyer de Schaue­nee and Phelps, 1978; Wheel­right, 1983)

• Primary Diet
• omnivore

• Animal Foods
• amphibians
• reptiles
• insects

• Plant Foods
• fruit

Pre­da­tion

Preda­tors of crested quet­zals in­clude the nest preda­tors grey squir­rels and kinka­jous. Or­nate hawk-ea­gles, and a few other hawks and owls may prey on fledg­lings and adults. (Bowes and Allen, 1969)

• Known Predators

  • grey squirrels (Sciurus griseoflavus)
  • kinkajous (Potus flavus)
  • ornate hawk-eagles (Spitaetus ornatus)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Due to their pref­er­ence for fruits of the Lau­raceae fam­ily, crested quet­zals and some Lau­raceae species are thought to have co­e­volved mu­tu­alisms, with crested quet­zals being im­por­tant seed dis­persers.

• Ecosystem Impact
• disperses seeds

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Crested quet­zals, and other quet­zal species are loved by bird watch­ers and are an eco­tourism at­trac­tion. (Kricher, 1997)

• Positive Impacts
• ecotourism
• research and education

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known ad­verse ef­fects of crested quet­zals on hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Crested quet­zals are not listed in the CITES ap­pen­dices. Ac­cord­ing to the IUCN Red List crested quet­zals pop­u­la­tions are of "Least Con­cern." Pop­u­la­tions may be threat­ened by habi­tat de­struc­tion in some areas.

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• US Migratory Bird Act

  No special status

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Other Com­ments

Crested quet­zals are some­times treated as sub­species of re­splen­dent quet­zals (Pharo­machrus mocinno).

Con­trib­u­tors

Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Kris­ten Pyl­man (au­thor), Kala­ma­zoo Col­lege, Ann Fraser (ed­i­tor, in­struc­tor), Kala­ma­zoo Col­lege.

Ref­er­ences

2006. "CITES" (On-line). Ac­cessed No­vem­ber 11, 2006 at http://​cites.​org/​eng/​resources/​species.​html.

2006. "IUCN Red List" (On-line). Ac­cessed No­vem­ber 11, 2006 at http://​www.​iucnredlist.​org.

2006. "United States En­dan­gered Species Act list" (On-line). Ac­cessed No­vem­ber 11, 2006 at http://​endangered.​fws.​gov/​wildlife.​html.

Bowes, A., D. Allen. 1969. Bi­ol­ogy and Con­ser­va­tion of the Quet­zal. Bi­o­log­i­cal Con­ser­va­tion 1, 4: 297-306.

Dun­ning, J. 1987. South Amer­i­can Birds. United States of Amer­ica: Har­rowood Books.

Fjeldsa, J., N. Krabbe. 1990. Birds of the High Andes. Copen­hagen, Den­mark: Zo­o­log­i­cal Mu­seum, Uni­ver­sity of Copen­hagen.

Hilty, S., B. William. 1986. A Guide to the Birds of Co­lum­bia. Prince­ton, New Jer­sey: Prince­ton Uni­ver­sity Press.

Kricher, J. 1997. A Neotrop­i­cal Com­pan­ion. Prince­ton, New Jer­sey: Prince­ton Uni­ver­sity Press.

LaBastille, A., D. Allen, L. Dur­rell. 1972. Be­hav­ior and Feather Struc­ture of the Quet­zal. The Auk, 89: 339-348.

Meyer de Schaue­nee, R., W. Phelps. 1978. A Guide to the Birds of Venezuela. Prince­ton, New Jer­sey: Prince­ton Uni­ver­sity Press.

Meyer de Shauensee, R. 1966. The Species of Birds of South Amer­ica. United States of Amer­ica: The Acad­emy of Nat­ural Sci­ences of Philadel­phia.

Skutch, A. 1972. Trop­i­cal Amer­i­can Birds. United States: Nut­tall Or­nitho­log­i­cal Club.

Skutch, A. 1944. Life His­tory of the Quet­zal. The Con­dor, 46: 213-235.

Stiles, G., A. Skutch. 1989. A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica. Utica, New York: Cor­nell Uni­ver­sity Press.

Wheat­ley, N. 1995. Where to Watch Birds in South Amer­ica. Prince­ton, New Jer­sey: Prince­ton Uni­ver­sity Press.

Wheel­right, N. 1983. Fruits and the Ecol­ogy of the Re­splen­dent Quet­zal. The Auk, 100: 286-301.