Eared Quetzal

Is the Eared Quetzal a quetzal or a trogon, his cousin? The Anglo-Saxons have been clear and called it Eared Quetzal since 1998. Its scientific name is a source for dreams and legends, Euptilotis neoxenus, which the Hellenists would translate as 'The feather of the fabulous foreign serpent who has just arrived'. British ornithologist John Gould came up with the name Eared Quetzal in 1838, five years after the Mountain Trogon and four years after the Elegant Trogon, which cover the same area of distribution. Did he want to make it clear that it was the last trogon (or quetzal) discovered?
Measuring 35 cm, with a pronounced dimorphism, the male has coal-black parotids as well as throat and forehead. The eye is black, with a blue-gray orbital ring; behind the eye and at the level of the ears, the bird has a thin bunch of black feathers, which is an unmistakable characteristic of this trogonid and which inspired its name; the beak also has the same blue-gray color, with the upper jaw being darker at the tip.The mantle and back have a strange color, an alternating combination of bronze-green and gray, the rump and upper-tail coverts take on turquoise blue tints according to the light, the appearance of the feathers gives the impression that the bird is covered with scales; the scapulars and great coverts maintain the same aspects and colorations of bronze-green and gray, the primaries are sharply white-edged and very long. The breast is very dark green, perhaps a little lighter on the part bordering the throat, the abdomen is bright red, without a white band between the breast and the abdomen. The first pair of under-tail coverts immediately beneath the lower abdomen is black at the base, then white, the other two pairs of tail coverts are totally white and they have a vertical black line dividing the right and left sides, the tip of the tail is marked with a black horizontal line.The upper rectrices are navy-blue, and the light will also influence the color, sometimes giving a rather dull blue or a brighter shade. The tarses, which are always difficult to see, are grey.The females differ by having a head and breast that are brown-grey; the parotids are the same shade but darker. The female Eared Quetzal will also sport the same ear tufts as her mate but with a grey colour. The belly is more pink-than-red and is duller than the male's. As with many other quetzals, the juvenile looks like its mother; the head and breast are light brown, and lower rectrices are not yet the beautiful white of the adults and are greyish.