• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Where premium quality meets exceptional value. ZEISS Conquest HDX.

Whooping Motmot - BirdForum Opus

Photo by mmdnje
Botanical Garden, Guayaquil. Ecuador, December 2005
Momotus subrufescens

Identification

38-48 cm
Green upperparts (olive in subspecies osgoodi), green or rufous underparts depending on subspecies (very variable how dark), black central spot on upper breast, black central crown surrounded by blue band, black eyemask sometimes edged pale at the back.

Tail is green with blue lower tail with two longest feathers showing an area missing barbs followed by an area with barbs (rackets); the tip of these feathers is black in some subspecies.

Notice that the tail feathers are normal when growing, the barbs fall off shortly after, and it is therefore possible to see a bird of this species that is missing rackets (feathers may also break below the rackets).

Juvenile has reduced black on upper breast.

Distribution

From Panama to Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru.

Taxonomy

There has been a recent split of a species known as Blue-crowned Motmot (Momotus momota) into six species:

Subspecies

Seven subspecies recognized[1]:

  • M. s. spatha in eastern Colombia (Serrania Macuira in eastern Guajira)
  • M. s. olivaresi in eastern Colombia
  • M. s. subrufescens on the Caribbean coast of northern Colombia and Venezuela
  • M. s. conexus from Panama (Canal Zone) to northern Colombia (lower Río Cauca)
  • M. s. reconditus from eastern Panama to northern Colombia (Atrato Valley)
  • M. s. osgoodi in the humid forests of western Venezuela (Lake Maracaibo region)
  • M. s. argenticinctus in tropical western Ecuador and northwestern Peru

This species was formerly considered conspecific with Blue-crowned Motmot.

Habitat

Habits near water, rivers, streams, and builds its nest in hollows excavated on banks. Likes to perch on branches in the shadow, inside forest, in hedgerows, or in scrub.

Behaviour

Breeding

It nests in tunnels in a bank, 3-4 white eggs are laid.

Diet

The diet includes insects, lizards and fruit.

Vocalisation

A single "whoop".

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2012. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to October 2012. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
  2. F. Gary Stiles 2009. A REVIEW OF THE GENUS MOMOTUS (CORACIIFORMES: MOMOTIDAE) IN NORTHERN SOUTH AMERICA AND ADJACENT AREAS. Ornitología Colombiana No.8 (2009): 29-75. Subject of Birdforum discussion here

Recommended Citation

External Links

GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1

Back
Top