Lesson’s Motmot

The afternoon of 5 July 2017 saw our checking into the Hotel de Montaña Monteverde. In the parking lot, a Lesson’s Motmot greeted us. One of its field marks is that its tail rackets have shorter stems than many other motmots. Check out the Turquoise-browned Motmot we saw earlier. The Lesson’s Motmot is common from southern Mexico to Panama. This species is similar to other motmots, such as the Blue-crowned Motmot. Until recently these two motmots were considered to be the same species. Now they and other South American populations are treated as separate species. All motmots flick their tails like clock pendulums.

The Hotel de Montaña Monteverde was definitely one of the one of the nicest we visited. The view across the mountains was spectacular and the birding, first rate. The sunset, as you can see in the last photo, after our rainy day was outstanding.