Turquoise-browed Motmot

Eumomota superciliosa

National bird of El Salvador and Nicaragua. Pendulum-swings its racket tail to warn off rivals.

Population: 500,000–4,999,999 mature individuals (2016 est.), decreasing (small decline)
Habitat: Dry and moist tropical/subtropical forest edges, open woodland, dry shrubland, gallery forest, and degraded or agricultural land including plantations and rural gardens; sea level to about 1,400 m
Fun fact: Both sexes grow long, bare-shafted, racket-tipped tail feathers and perform a pendulum-like "wag-display" believed to signal to predators that they've already been spotted, making further pursuit pointless.
Range: Central America and southeastern Mexico: resident in Mexico (Oaxaca, Chiapas, Campeche, esp. Yucatán Peninsula), Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica; extent of occurrence roughly 757,000 km2. Belize is NOT listed as range by BirdLife DataZone or Cornell's Birds of the World (both checked independently and agree), though eBird's automated range map suggests presence there — treated here as unconfirmed/excluded per the two curated authoritative sources.
Diet: Mostly insects and other arthropods, plus small reptiles and occasional fruit; hunts by scanning from an exposed perch (wires, fences, low branches) and sallying down to seize prey
Size: 0.34 m

More Tropical Birds