quetzalteueyac

[John F. Schwaller]

Apprived: listsecret
From: "Jim Rader" <jrader at Merriam-Webster.com>
To: nahuat-l at server2.umt.edu
Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2001 13:16:24 -0500
Subject: Re: quetzalteueyac

I'm not terribly up-to-date on the status of the quetzal, so if
someone out there knows more, please correct me.
The resplendent quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno) is a cloud forest
bird, living solely in wet montane forests and migrating seasonally
to lower elevations (meaning it requires a fair amount of territory).
At present the distribution of the bird is from the Sierra Madre de
Chiapas south to the vicinity of Chiriqui volcano in western
Panama, with many discontinuous stretches owing not only to
habitat loss but to the absence of cloud forest. I don't know if bird's
range was significantly different in pre-Conquest times. I believe
the best-known places to see the bird currently are the El Triunfo
biosphere reserve in Chiapas and the Monteverde reserve in Costa
Rica. VENT (Victor Emanuel Nature Tours) operates birding trips
to El Triunfo, and I saw quetzals on one of VENT's trips there in
1987. Western Guatemala, particularly the areas around the
Tajumulco and Tacana volcanos, was a stronghold of the birds
decades ago, but I have no ideas how they're faring there now. I
don't know if the birds have been bred in captivity with much
success. The Instituto para el Estudio de Aves Tropicales in Costa
Rica maintains quetzals, and they may have bred them.
As I've long understood it, the Nahuatl word <quetzalli> referred in
th 16th century to the long tail covert feathers of the male
resplendent quetzal. (Andrews etymologized the word as a
derivative of <quetza>, "to stand up.") Understand that these are
covert feathers, not essential for flight, so in theory they could be
removed from a captured bird without impeding its ability to fly--
though because the plumes are used in display flights to attract
females, the bird wouldn't have any breeding success until it
molted and grew new plumes.
Quetzals, like other New World trogons, have a distinctive
iridescent plumage that doesn't photograph well. When you see
them live in the forest, it's hard to believe they're real.
Jim Rader
 >
 > (Off-topic PS: what is the current status re endangeredness etc of the
quetzal
 > bird, anyway? Are they bred in captivity?)
 >
 >
 > Citlalya:ni
 >[Anthony Appleyard]