First described by William Swainson in 1827, it is resident in Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico and has occurred in El Salvador as a vagrant.

The male is metallic green on the crown, nape, upperparts and chest, the latter separated from its bright red belly and vent by a narrow band of white.

Unlike some rarer trogons, this species shows some adaptability to human land use and has utilized coffee plantations with suitable shade trees like oaks.

[3] When he first described the mountain trogon in 1827 from a specimen collected in Temascáltepec, Mexico, William Swainson gave the species its current scientific name.

[12] The adult male is green on the crown, nape and upperparts; the upper side of its tail is bluish-green, with black tips to the rectrices.

[10] The female is warm brown on her head and upperparts; her tail is rufous-brown on the upperside, with black tips to the rectrices.

The male collared trogon is golden-green on the back and uppertail, and its undertail is black with narrow white barring.

[1] The ornithological collection at Vassar College contains a mountain trogon that was purportedly shot in Texas,[15] but the species is not on the list of accepted North American birds.

[16] Found at elevations ranging from 3,000 to 10,000 ft (910 to 3,050 m),[17] the mountain trogon prefers pine or pine-oak woodlands and cloud forest.

[19][20] When it excavates its own nest, it uses its beak to gnaw a hole in rotting wood, either in a decaying stump or branch.

[14] Young mountain trogons make quiet hissing calls when food begging, and when approached by potential predators.