Motmots | Momotidae

Motmots | Motmots | Momotos

A small family of tropical America: this guide includes seven species in four genera, from dry forest on the Pacific side of Ecuador and northern Peru and in northern Colombia through the humid Chocó and the Amazonian lowlands to the cloud forest of the Andes, where the Andean Motmot still occurs high on the slopes. Motmots are related to kingfishers and bee-eaters, with a large head, short legs with partly fused toes and a stout, slightly curved bill with finely serrated edges. The plumage is green and cinnamon with blue or turquoise on the head and wings, often with a black breast spot. In most species the two long central tail feathers end in a racket: the barbs just above it are weakly attached and fall away through preening and wear, leaving a bare stretch of shaft. When disturbed the bird swings its tail from side to side like a pendulum, apparently signalling to predators that they have been seen. Motmots sit still in the shade for long periods and then sally out for large insects, spiders, small lizards and frogs, and they also eat fruit. The voice is a deep, hollow hoot, often doubled, given mostly at dawn and dusk. The nest is at the end of a self-dug tunnel in an earth bank or the side of a pit, with three or four white eggs.