The Collared Trogon is one of the species that most closely resembles the Resplendent Quetzal. It has a red belly and green head, both matte unlike the quetzal, which looks a lot more metallic. The trogon also has a white ring that separates the green chest from the red belly. Its tail is finely striped black and white on the underside, whereas the quetzal has mostly white on this feathers, with some black feathers on top of them that may show up sometimes. They share a yellow bill, but the trogon has a red eyering and a black face, features not present on the quetzal.

Like many species of the Trogon family, they normally perch and stay motionless for minutes on the same branch, sometimes calling each other or moving their heads from side to side very slowly. Then they can burst into flight, either to change perch or to catch insects, which are part of their diet.