Andean Motmot

We recently got back from a March trip to Colombia. Part of the trip included some birding with guides, largely inspired by an experience in Ecuador the year before in the cloud forest near Mindo.  There I was introduced to the world of colorful and exotic tanagers, toucans, parrots and other species of birds I'd never heard the names of before. One of those other species was the broad-billed motmot,  a large bird which was a mixture of blue, turqoise, green and orangish brown with a very long tail with what look like arrow feathers at the end, known as a raquet-tail. 

As we planned our trip and I looked at some of the birds we might encounter I was particularly desirous to see the Andean motmot, now familiar with the motmot name from our Ecuador trip. I googled a photo of one and saw the characteristic racquet-tail. 

When we got to Tinamu Reserve, a birding area near Manizales in the Cordillera Central (the central set of three mountain ranges comprising the Andes in Colombia), we saw an Andean motmot the first day and I was thrilled. 

It is found in the Andes from Bolivia to Colombia, but only on the eastern side except in Colombia, where it is found in all three cordilleras. 

There are 14 species of motmot. Something I just learned is that the bare racquet-tail is created when barbs on the tail feather shafts fall off due to abrasion from preening or contact with substrates. 

The Andean motmot has green on the back, wings, throat, breast and belly; a black crown surrounded by turquoise blue, a black mask surrounded by turqoise blue, a black spot on the center of the breast and dark blue racquet-tails. 

At Tinamu Reserve, our guide Hernando showed us a hole in a bank that he said was for motmots. I was incredulous. How does that bird get in that hole and then turn around?  

Rocklands Bird Sanctuary - Montego Bay, Jamaica

On February 17, 2023 I spent a little over two hours at Rocklands Bird Sanctuary situated around a house on a hill above Montego Bay, Jamaica. I made arrangements in advance to meet with Fritz, the caretaker, and had a private tour. When I arrived around 7:00 a.m. Fritz had just spread out feed in two areas on the ground and had filled up multiple hummingbird feeders and the place was alive with birds - I've never seen anything like it. 

Birds gather around grain. 

Birds were also here, but scattered as I walked up. 

Red-billed steamertails and Jamaican mangos were almost a non-stop presence at these hummingbird feeders. 

Montego Bay below. 

Fritz indicated that the home became a sanctuary for birds about 50 years ago and the lady who had owned the home had died relatively recently. I walked around alone for awhile, while Fritz got things set up, and I took photos. Caribbean doves, common ground doves, black-faced grassquits, yellow-faced grassquits and a ruddy quail-dove fed on the feed spread on the ground. Red-billed streamertails, Jamaican mangos, bananaquits and a Jamaican oriole fed on the hummingbird feeders and other nectar feeders. Then Fritz took me down a road and up a hill where we encountered a Jamaican woodpecker, an American redstart. a northern mockingbird, a greater Antillean bullfinch, a Jamaican vireo, a loggerhead kingbird and an olive-throated parakeet. Fritz also pointed out a turkey vulture and an osprey flying at some distance away. We went back to the house and took a little trail to the side and back. There we saw a northern potoo, an ovenbird, a white-chinned thrush and finally a Jamaican owl, just as I was leaving. It was an amazing two hours. 

Below are some of the photos from that morning: 

Male black-faced grassquit.

Female black-faced grassquit.

Male yellow-faced grassquit.

Female yellow-faced grassquit.

Caribbean dove

Common ground dove

Ruddy quail-dove

Red-billed streamertail - the national bird of Jamaica.

Jamaican mango

Bananaquit

Jamaican oriole

Jamaican woodpecker

American redstart

Greater Antillean bullfinch

Loggerhead kingbird

Olive-throated parakeet

Jamaican vireo

Northern mockingbird

Northern potoo

Ovenbird

White-chinned thrush

Jamaican owl

Brandt's Cormorant

Brandt's cormorant is a sea bird found along the Pacific coast of North America, from the southern coast of Alaska to Baja Sur and the Gulf of California. Those north of Vancouver Island migrate south during the winter. Part of its Latin name, penicillatus, means painter's brush or pencil of hairs, referring to white plumes on its neck and back during early breeding season. 

A rock full of Brandt's cormorants off of Anacapa Island. 

All About Birds provides a much better identification than Wikipedia: Breeding birds are black with a purple sheen on the head and a blue gular pouch (skin patch on the chin). Non-breeding birds are blackish with a paler brown chin patch. Juveniles are brownish overall with a paler neck that forms a "V" shape on the breast (often visible on resting birds) and have a pale chin patch. 

A brownish juvenile on the right.

Breeding birds with blue gular pouch and white plumes on the neck and back. 

In March I took a pelagic bird tour with Island Packers out of Oxnard, California. We visited the eastern end of Santa Cruz Island and pretty much circled Anacapa Island.