Amazonian Motmot

The Amazonian Motmot is a handsome, medium-large forest bird recognized by its rich green plumage, a black mask through the eye bordered by blue, and a crown showing a blue band framed by black. The underparts often show a variable rufous or olive tone depending on the population, and the throat may show a small dark spot.

Its most famous feature is the long tail, whose two central feathers extend well beyond the rest and end in bare shafts tipped with distinctive racket-shaped webbing, a result of the bird itself preening away weakly attached barbules near the tip during feather growth and use.

Motmots are known for a curious pendulum-like tail-wagging behavior, swinging the tail slowly side to side while perched, a behavior whose function is debated but may serve as a signal to potential predators that they have been detected.

Key field marks

• Green overall plumage with a black facial mask bordered by blue
• Blue crown band framed by black
• Long tail with bare shafts ending in racket-shaped tips
• Distinctive side-to-side tail-swinging behavior while perched

Similar species

Other Momotus motmots (such as Whooping Motmot and Trinidad Motmot, now often split from this species) are very similar in plumage and were formerly considered the same species; range is the most reliable way to separate them, as the Amazonian Motmot occupies the Amazon basin specifically. Broad-billed Motmot has a notably shorter tail and a different bill shape.

Habitat

The Amazonian Motmot inhabits the understory and mid-story of humid lowland forest and forest edge, generally staying within or near dense vegetation.

Range

It is found throughout much of the Amazon basin, including parts of Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil.

Migration

It is a non-migratory, sedentary resident of its forest habitat.

Behavior

Amazonian Motmots are typically solitary or found in pairs, perching quietly in the understory and periodically swinging their long racket-tipped tail from side to side like a pendulum, a behavior thought to signal alertness to predators.

Voice

The call is a low, resonant, owl-like hooting note, often repeated and given mainly at dawn and dusk, carrying well through the forest understory.

Feeding

It feeds on a varied diet of insects, small vertebrates such as lizards, and fruit, typically hunting by watching quietly from a perch before sallying down to seize prey from the ground or foliage.

Nesting and breeding

Motmots nest in burrows, excavating a tunnel into an earthen bank or slope, where the female lays her eggs in an unlined chamber at the end of the tunnel; both parents typically help excavate the burrow and raise the young.