thumb|[[Broad-billed motmot]]

The motmots or Momotidae are a family of birds in the order Coraciiformes, which also includes the kingfishers, bee-eaters and rollers. All extant motmots are restricted to woodland or forests in the Neotropics, and the largest are in Central America. They have a colourful plumage and a relatively heavy bill. All except the tody motmot have relatively long tails that in some species have a distinctive racket-like tip.

Behaviour

Motmots eat small prey such as insects and lizards, and will also take fruit. In Nicaragua and Costa Rica, motmots have been observed feeding on poison dart frogs. It was, however, wrongly believed in the past that the motmot shaped its tail by plucking part of the feather web to leave the racket. This was based on inaccurate reports made by Charles William Beebe. The number of species in each family is taken from the list maintained by Frank Gill, Pamela C. Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC).

References

Further reading

  • Murphy, Troy G. (2007). Lack of melanized keratin and barbs that fall off: how the racketed tail of the turquoise-browed motmot Eumomota superciliosa is formed. Journal of Avian Biology 38:139–143.
  • Murphy, Troy G. (2007). Racketed tail of the male and female turquoise-browed motmot: male but not female tail length correlates with pairing success, performance, and reproductive success. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 61:911–918.
  • Motmot videos on the Internet Bird Collection