Elegant Trogons Respond to Rainfall in Southeast Arizona

By Jennie MacFarland

Elegant Trogon seen on the 2024 surveys, Lori Conrad

Tucson Audubon conducted the 11th year of Elegant Trogon surveys of Southeast Arizona this past May. The surveys cover five separate Sky Island Mountain ranges that are each an Important Bird Area. Together, these ranges make up nearly all of the known breeding habitat of Elegant Trogons within the United States. After years of surveys, we are starting to see some very interesting trends emerging.

To standardize our efforts, the surveys are scheduled in the same pattern each year. The second weekend of May is the Atascosa Highlands IBA survey, followed by the Patagonia Mountains IBA and the Santa Rita Mountains IBA on the third weekend. The final weekend of May is the Huachuca Mountains IBA and the Chiricahua Mountains IBA. These surveys are a huge group effort and over 100 people help every year to collect this data. THANK YOU to the hundreds of amazing people who have helped over the last 11 years!

The 2024 total count for Elegant Trogons was 119 birds, which is lower than the 2023 total of 183, but similar to the 2022 total of 121 and much higher than the 2021 total of 68—the lowest total we ever documented. These fluctuations are largely driven by monsoon rainfall levels of the previous year.




From 2013 to 2020 there was an overall trend of an increasing trogon population within Arizona. It should be noted that this species has the majority of its range in west Mexico and our nesting birds are mostly migratory. In years when counts are low such as 2021–2024, it likely reflects fewer birds completing their journey north to nest in Arizona due to habitat conditions affected by monsoon rainfall.

The following monsoon rain maps are created by the University of Arizona and can be viewed here for a closer look.

This 2019 map shows average monsoonal rainfall (white on the map) or slightly below average (light brown) through most of Southeast Arizona. Correspondingly, the total Elegant Trogon survey count for 2020 was our highest ever count of 201.



The following year of 2020 was locally known as the “non-soon” and Southeast Arizona dealt with a record breaking absence of rainfall. The map below shows this very well with most of the state covered in dark brown. The 2021 results of the following spring was the lowest count total we have ever had at just 68 Elegant Trogons.



The map of 2021 shows most of Southeast Arizona having above average rainfall. This is reflected in the rebounding count of 121 Elegant Trogons in May of 2022.



The monsoon rainfall of 2022 was also above average and likely contributed to the continuing upward trend of 183 trogons counted in May 2023.



However, the monsoon of 2023 was below average again across all of the Sky Islands of Southeast Arizona. This almost certainly contributed to the decreased total of 119 trogons for the 2024 count.



For the 2024 data, I was initially surprised at such a dramatic decrease (183 in 2023 and 119 in 2024) as we had had quite a lot of rainfall during the winter and spring of 2024 and the habitat itself looked quite lush in the Sky Island canyons in May. But after investigating further and speaking with a local insect expert, it now makes more sense to me. Elegant Trogons need lots of large bodied insects such as walking sticks, katydids, large caterpillars, and cicadas to successfully raise their chicks. Many of these insects require monsoon rainfall to complete their life cycle—rainfall outside of the monsoon has little to no effect on their numbers the following year. So habitat can appear good to us due to generous winter and spring rainfall but have low numbers of these insects if the previous monsoon had low rainfall.

The online map of the Elegant Trogon survey results for 2024 can be viewed as an interactive map along with detailed results canyon by canyon at this page on the Arizona IBA website.



There is an interesting twist in the story of the 2024 Elegant Trogon breeding season. There was a noticeable lack of females or pairs detected during the 2024 count, with only one female, 88 single males, and 15 pairs counted. An example is South Fork of Cave Creek in the Chiricahua Mountains, where only one pair and 5 lone males were documented.

However, local birding guide Dave Jasper kept a close eye on this area during the summer months and noted changes in the population. By late July he noted there were five pairs within the canyon and he observed them feeding two chicks per nest for a total of 10 chicks within the canyon! He also observed a pair copulating in late July, a very late nesting period. It seemed many females arrived later than is typical and were not counted during the May survey dates.

It is good to know that these birds do have some flexibility in their breeding and migration patterns which makes them more resilient to fluctuations in monsoon conditions. The females that arrived late in 2024 may have been tempted north by the increased rainfall compared to 2023, with much of the moisture falling early in the monsoon season.



I have had many questions about the timing of the surveys and why we do them in May. The timing was decided early on to minimize disturbance to nesting trogons and maximize detections. In a typical year, the trogons begin to arrive in April and males are usually on their territories and many paired by May. The males are most vocal at this stage as well and usually not nesting yet. To keep our data consistent we do the surveys the same weekends every year, and most years this timing works well. In the years when it is less effective, such as this year, it is very helpful to have local experts sharing their observations through the summer months. In the low count year of 2021, an eBirder reported recently fledged Elegant Trogon chicks in Sycamore Canyon in October! This is very late in the season and is likely a case of the birds taking advantage of the excellent summer rainfall conditions that year—another example of the trogons’ adaptability and a sign for the future in a changing climate.

Learn more about the trogon surveys here. If you are interested in helping with this ongoing survey effort, watch for our volunteer announcements in March and April of 2025. 

Great Horned Owl branchlings, Raul Del

Elegant Trogon survey photos
We gather fun photos from our surveys and pictures from the 2024 survey, 2023 survey, 2022 survey, 2021 survey, and 2020 survey are visible at these links. Check 'em out!

Jennie MacFarland is the Bird Conservation Biologist for Tucson Audubon.