There are six subspecies of Quetzal that are found in varying geographic locations including the Crested Quetzal, the Goldenheaded Quetzal, the Whitetipped Quetzal, the Pavonine Quetzal, the Eared Quetzal and the most famously known Resplendent Quetzal, all of which belong to the Trogon family of birds. The Quetzal is an immensely coloured bird with metallic plumage and is widely considered to be one of the most strikinglybeautiful birds in the world. They are most well known for the long tail feathers of the males.
The Quetzal is an incredibly coloured bird with males displaying a bright metallic green or blue on most of their bodies besides the deep red of the chest and belly. The male Quetzal bird also has a distinctive tuft of golden green feathers that form a crest on top of their heads and immensely long twin tail feathers that can grow up to a meter in length. Although females do not grow such an impressively long train they are of a similar colouration to their male counterparts with their plumage not being quite as bright. The deep red of the chest is often much duller or even grey (as is the metallic green) and they have grey or bronze coloured heads edged with green. As with other members of the Trogon family, the feet of the Quetzal are unique with two toes facing forward and two back on each foot that aid the Quetzal when perching high in the trees.
The Quetzal bird is found throughout the mountainous rainforests of Central America where they tend to prefer high mountain ranges at altitudes of between 4,000 and 10,000 feet. The Quetzal inhabits moist, tropical forests in areas that are cooler, contain dense vegetation and that are incredibly moist. Cloud forests are one of the most successful habitats for the Quetzal where the high moisture levels cause there to be a great deal of fog in the forest. Quetzals live in holes in the trees close to the top of the canopy that they have either built themselves using their powerful beaks, or ones that have been abandoned by Woodpeckers. The striking plumage of the Quetzal means that these birds are perfectly camouflaged amongst the abundance of vegetation surrounding them.