Blue-crowned Motmot

The blue-crowned motmot, also called the Amazonian motmot, is a colourful bird of the motmot family found in the Amazon lowlands and low Andean foothills, from eastern Venezuela to eastern Brazil and northeastern Argentina. It lives in the interior and edges of humid lowland forest. The body is green, most birds have a black eyemask, and the black central crown is bordered by a blue band. The long tail ends in racquet-tipped feathers. It is omnivorous, taking insects and other arthropods, small mammals and reptiles, and fruit, and like most of its relatives it nests in long tunnels dug into earth banks.

About the blue-crowned motmot

The blue-crowned motmot is a colorful, long-tailed forest bird of the American tropics in the motmot family, Momotidae, part of the order that includes kingfishers, bee-eaters and rollers. Traditionally one species, Momotus momota, ranging from Mexico to Argentina, it is now split into six species, including the blue-capped motmot of eastern Mexico.

That split explains why the name can be confusing. The blue-capped (Momotus coeruliceps), Lesson's, whooping, Trinidad, Amazonian and Andean motmots were all once treated as a single species. Today the scientific name Momotus momota belongs to the Amazonian motmot of South America east of the Andes, while the name "blue-crowned motmot" is used both for the old, broad species and for the Mexican blue-capped bird, which the IUCN lists under that name.

Animal Diversity Web describes the blue-crowned motmot as about 40.6 cm (16 in) long in males, with females slightly smaller and an average weight of about 102 g (3.6 oz). The blue-capped motmot measures 38–43 cm (15–17 in). Males and females look the same. The back and upper tail range from olive-green to parrot-green, and the wings are brighter green with bluish-green flight feathers.

The head carries the name. In most forms the center of the crown is black, ringed by a wide band of blue that covers much of the forehead, with a black eye mask below. The blue-capped motmot of Mexico is the only member of the former complex whose central crown is entirely blue. The bill is black, broad and heavy, with coarse serrations along the middle of the upper edge, and the large eyes are dull red. The legs and feet are short and gray.

The tail is the showpiece. Its two central feathers extend far beyond the rest and end in a bare length of shaft holding an isolated, blue, black-tipped "racket." The racket forms naturally: barbs near the tip are weakly attached and fall away through rubbing and preening. An old claim that motmots pluck their own tails into shape came from inaccurate reports and has been disproved.

Behavior and diet

Blue-crowned motmots live in pairs all year and never flock. Partners often forage separately during the day, so it isn't always obvious they are mated. They are active in the twilight and settle to rest later than most birds, a crepuscular habit. They do not sleep in their burrows, and evidence suggests they roost among foliage instead.

Much of the time a motmot sits still, and despite its size it can be hard to spot in dense forest. When it does fly, the flight is sudden, swift and direct but rarely long, a flash of blue and green between trees. Motmots often swing their tails back and forth. Research on a related species, the turquoise-browed motmot, suggests this wag-display tells a predator it has been spotted, so the predator gives up and the motmot saves itself a costly escape.

The diet is mostly insects. Beetles appear to be the main food, including many dung beetles, along with large cicadas, stick insects, large green grasshopper relatives and many kinds of larvae. Spiders and small lizards are occasionally caught, and fruit is taken regularly. Across the family, motmots in Nicaragua and Costa Rica have even been seen eating poison dart frogs.

A motmot usually carries its catch to a perch and beats it against the branch until it stops moving, often until it is badly battered, before swallowing it or taking it to the chicks. Sometimes it deals with prey on the ground. Motmots also follow swarms of army ants, picking off the insects, spiders and lizards the ants flush from the leaf litter.

Their calls are low and hollow. The blue-capped motmot gives an owl-like "ooo-doot," and the Amazonian motmot's song has been described as a fast, hollow "hoo-do" or a bubbling "whOOP-oo," along with a gruff "kak."

Like most of their order, motmots nest at the end of tunnels dug into earth banks. Preparation starts months ahead, during the rainy season. Rather than tunnel into an exposed bank, a blue-crowned motmot pair often starts from the side of a pit or hollow, such as an animal's den or a hole dug by people. Digging early has two advantages: the soil is soft, and by laying time the burrow looks old and is less likely to attract predators.

The female lays about three or four white eggs. In parts of South America eggs are laid from March to early April, and in parts of Mexico from early May to late June. Both parents incubate, the female usually at night, for 13 days to about three weeks. Chicks hatch naked. The parents brood them for the first three or four days, then feed them by day and leave them alone in the burrow at night. Young stay in the burrow for about a month.

Range and habitat

In the broad, traditional sense, the blue-crowned motmot ranges from northeastern Mexico to northwestern Peru, Paraguay, Bolivia, Trinidad and northern Argentina. Motmots as a group are restricted to the forests and woodlands of the Neotropics, and the largest species live in Central America.

The birds are adaptable within that range. In Central America they live in Pacific lowlands with long, harsh dry seasons and in cleared highlands, where they use shaded coffee plantations, light secondary woods, thickets, hedgerows, shady gardens and wooded ravines. The Amazonian motmot lives in the interior and edges of humid lowland forest, up to about 1,200 m (3,900 ft) in Venezuela, 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in Ecuador and 750 m (2,460 ft) in Peru.

Blue-capped motmot vs Amazonian motmot

Two of the species split from the old blue-crowned motmot illustrate the differences that now separate them.

Conservation status

The two species most closely tied to the name are both rated Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Momotus momota, now meaning the Amazonian motmot, was assessed as Least Concern in 2016, and the blue-capped motmot, Momotus coeruliceps, which the IUCN calls the blue-crowned motmot, was assessed as Least Concern in 2020. Animal Diversity Web describes the traditional blue-crowned motmot as a wide-ranging bird, and in Central America it lives not only in forest but also in coffee plantations, gardens and secondary woods. It is a featured bird on nature trips in Central America and the Neotropics.