Turquoise-browed Motmot

Turquoise-browned Motmots are found from southeastern Mexico to Costa Rica. This species is common and conspicuous, often perching in the open as it searches for insects and small reptiles. After a productive afternoon on 3 July in the Tarcoles District of Puntarenas Provencie, Costa Rica, we stopped for supplies and to arrange for a boat tour the next day along the Tarcoles River. We discovered a pair of motmots in the garden of a local store.

Motmots are strange birds. They have racketed tails that they swing back and forth like a clock pendulum. The rackets are formed because the feather vanes are only weakly attached to the shafts. The vanes are not plucked by the birds, but simply detach.

Both sexes sport elaborate tails. Males use their tails to advertise sexual fitness. Males with the longest tails have greater reproductive success. When a predator is nearby, both sexes wag their tails as a “pursuit-deterrent signal.” The predator is warned that it has been seen by the motmot, thus attacks will likely be unsuccessful (Wikipedia).