Golden-headed Quetzal

The golden-headed quetzal weighs between 154–182g. It has a wingspan of 30–36 cm and a length of 33–36 cm with tail plumes adding another 8–10 cm. Like other members of the genus Pharomachrus, the golden-headed quetzal is known for its iridescent golden-green wings and breast, which can appear blue depending on the light. The female's breast is a duller brownish colour; her head is also a duller golden-brown when compared to the male's gold-bronze head, from which the species name is derived. Their bills are short and broad; they appear yellow in males and a brownish greyish in females. The quetzal's uppertail coverts are darker green and extend beyond the tip of the tail, more so in the male than in the female. Both the male and the female have a black undertail, though the female sometimes displays greyish-black tips. The feathers on the lower breast of both sexes are a brilliant red colour. Both sexes, like other trogons, also have heterodactyl feet, with the first and second toes facing backwards and the third and fourth toes facing forward. Their legs and feet are an olive green or a brownish colour. The young golden-headed quetzal is a brownish black colour with a few iridescent green feathers on the neck and breast, and lacking the tail coverts of the adult. The golden-headed male quetzal differs from other quetzals in its lack of a crest of head feathers. P. a. …

Golden-headed quetzals inhabit areas of Central and South America. P. a. auriceps is found in eastern Panama (Cerro Pirre mountain) as well as in the Andes spanning from southern Colombia to eastern Peru and northern Bolivia. P. a. hargitti is only found in the Andes of Venezuela. Their natural habitat is most commonly humid and wet moderate-elevation montane and foothill forests although they have also been seen less frequently on the forest edge and in clearings as well as in temperate cloud forests and elfin forests. They reside at elevations ranging from 1200m to 3100m.

The golden-headed quetzal's diet consists mainly of fruit, though it has also been known to eat insects. Remsen et al. (1993) found that the stomach contents of P. auriceps were "fruit only" 87.5% of the time and "arthropods and fruit" 12.5% of the time. The quetzal's fruit-heavy diet makes it a very important species for the dispersal of the fruits' seeds. It is also thought that, like other quetzals, the golden-headed quetzal feeds on small vertebrates such as frogs and lizards. However, this has been brought into question by Lohnes and Greeney (2008) who found the diet of P. auriceps was much less varied since they never observed it feeding on any animal matter other than insects while observing the species for 22 days. Their observations also confirmed that the formerly accepted idea that quetzals did not feed their hatchlings fruit until ten days after hatching was untrue.