Turquoise-browed Motmot
- Family
- Momotidae
- Conservation status (IUCN)
- Least Concern 6
Where and when to see the Turquoise-browed Motmot
DraftOn the Yucatán Peninsula
It likes dry, open woodland, forest edges and scrub, and is common in the north of the peninsula. Look for it on wires and fence posts, or at cenotes and ruins, slowly swinging its tail.
Where it’s reported most
- Cuxtal Ecological ReserveMérida, Yucatán
- Ruta de los CenotesPuerto Morelos, Quintana Roo
- MuyilFelipe Carrillo Puerto, Quintana Roo
- Puerto AventurasPlaya del Carmen, Quintana Roo
When
All year · most reports Apr–Aug
Most reports from April to August.
Reports relative to effort
- January: 37%
- February: 42%
- March: 62%
- April: 72%
- May: 87%
- June: 100%
- July: 91%
- August: 73%
- September: 53%
- October: 44%
- November: 40%
- December: 34%
Data: eBird and other datasets via GBIF.org (CC BY 4.0), 2015–2026 · Base map: Natural Earth
Perches in the open at forest edges and in villages, swinging its racket-tipped tail like a pendulum. On the peninsula it digs its nest burrows into the walls of cenotes and limestone quarries.
- Identification
- A slim, colourful bird with a turquoise eyebrow over a black mask, a blue-edged black throat patch, a rufous back and belly, and a long blue tail that ends in two rackets on bare shafts.
- Voice
- A nasal, croaking call that carries a long way.
What the photo doesn’t show
DraftA pendulum warning
When it spots a predator it swings its tail from side to side like a pendulum, the habit behind its Yucatán name, pájaro reloj. Birds do it even when alone, so the message is for the predator: “I’ve seen you.” 1,2
Self-made rackets
Nobody trims the rackets on its tail. The barbs along that stretch of the two central feathers are weakly attached and low in melanin, so they fall off soon after the feather grows. 2,3
A neighbour of the cenotes
It nests at the end of a tunnel in an earth bank. On the peninsula it also uses quarries, wells, crevices in cenotes and caves, and even Maya ruins. 2,4
A tail that wins mates
Males and females both have the long racket tail, but it only seems to matter for males: young males with longer bare shafts found mates more often, and older ones raised more chicks. 5
Sources
- Murphy 2006, Behavioral Ecology 17: 547–553 (opens in a new tab)
- Wikipedia: Turquoise-browed motmot (opens in a new tab)
- Murphy 2007, Journal of Avian Biology 38: 139–143 (opens in a new tab)
- Scott & Martin 1983, Biotropica 15: 8–14 (opens in a new tab)
- Murphy 2007, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 61: 911–918 (opens in a new tab)
- IUCN Red List category, via GBIF: Eumomota superciliosa (opens in a new tab)
Map and months: 22,695 records from 2015–2026 from eBird, iNaturalist, and others, via GBIF.org (CC BY 4.0), in 0.1° squares (about 10 km). eBird: doi.org/10.15468/aomfnb.
Months: the species’ records ÷ all bird records that month, scaled to the busiest month. It allows for birding effort; it is not the chance of seeing it. A blank square: few or no reports, not necessarily absent.
Tell us where, or ask how to find one.
[email protected]