T. elegans has five recognized subspecies, including the nominate subspecies:[3] BirdLife International and Handbook of the Birds of the World consider T. e. ambiguus to be its own species, as Trogon ambiguus, with Trogon elegans sensu stricto being the Central American population.

However, the presence of trogons in the old world has led to debate on their true origin, which remains unknown to this day.

Their upperwings are grey and their long square tipped tail feathers are usually brown on the upper side and white undertail with and black horizontal stripes.

It prefers to live in conditions that would favor the presence of pine oak woodlands and local water making it particularly susceptible to disturbance.

Their diet consists of grapes, cherries, figs, chokecherry, and buckthorn as well as grasshoppers, mantids, caterpillars, moths and beetles.

To grab fruits, they will hover over the berries to pluck them [14][15] It nests 2–6 metres (7–20 ft) high in an unlined shallow cavity, usually selecting an old flicker hole, with a typical clutch of two to three eggs.

The species is endemic to Central America, ranging from Guatemala in the south as far north as the mountains of southeast Arizona.

Elegant trogons are short distance migrators, usually only getting as north as Arizona, where they spend the breeding season.

[11] The most northerly populations of the subspecies T. e. ambiguus are partially migratory,[16] and the species is occasionally found as a vagrant in southeasternmost and western Texas.

The elegant trogon is not fond of humid regions, and chooses to live on hillsides near cliff edges.

Plants such as junipers, oaks, sycamores, and Pinus edulis can be a good indication of suitability for the trogon.