Narina Trogon

Apaloderma narina

Other Names

    Trogon narina   Narinatrogon   Trogón de Narina   Narinatrogon     Trogone narina

World: Afrotropical widely distributed S of 10°N. In Ethiopia it reaches as far N as 16°. Elsewhere it avoids very arid areas so is absent from dry regions of E Somalia and most of the SW of the continent.

Kenya: Common in forested habitats up to 3000m. Scarce or absent in the very arid regions.

Although reasonably common this is shy, unobtrusive bird which is found singly or in pairs. They spend a large amount of time sitting very still in an upright, though slightly hunched, position. This means that they are easy to overlook despite being so brightly coloured. They are insectivorous taking caterpillars from twigs and foliage or hawking for insects in flight. This picture was taken at Naro Moru River Lodge in August 2001. We were particularly pleased to get the photograph as we had spent quite some time trying to identify the bird from a distant glimpse bird through dense cover. We had finally satisfied ourselves that it was a Narina Trogon and had continued our walk discussing how nice it would be if the bird decided to come out of the shadows and pose for us ..... when it came out of the shadows and posed for us. It is rare that you get so lucky with bird photography!

Totally pointless fact: The Narina Trogon was named by 18th century French Naturalist François le Vaillant. It was named in honour of his Hottentot mistress Narina!