The coppery-tailed trogon (Trogon ambiguus) is a bird in the family Trogonidae formerly considered conspecific with the elegant trogon (Trogon elegans). It is found in south-eastern Arizona, extreme south-western New Mexico and much of Mexico either side of the Sierra Madre Occidental.
Taxonomy The coppery-tailed trogon was formally described and illustrated in 1835 by the English ornithologist John Gould from specimens collected in northern Mexico. He coined the current binomial name, Trogon ambiguus. The specific epithet ambiguus is Latin meaning "doubtful" or "uncertain". The coppery-tailed trogon has sometimes been considered as a subspecies of the elegant trogon (Trogon elegans).
Three subspecies are recognised:
Trogon ambiguus canescens Van Rossem, AJ, 1934 – oak-pine woodland of southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico to northwestern Mexico (Sinaloa) Trogon ambiguus ambiguus Gould, J, 1835 – northern Nuevo León and central Tamaulipas westward to Nayarit and southward to Oaxaca (eastern to southern Mexico) Trogon ambiguus goldmani Nelson, EW, 1898 – Islas Marías (off western Mexico)
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