Keel-billed Motmot

Electron carinatum

Medium-sized forest-dweller that likes to sit motionless. Mostly dull green, slightly buffier below, with black mask and breast spot. Orange forehead and blue eyebrow and chin are distinctive. Most similar to larger Lesson’s Motmot; note smaller size and face pattern. Often found singly or in pairs inside forest, usually below canopy. Never common; quite inconspicuous and can be difficult to find within its limited range. Call very similar to Broad-billed Motmot.

Taxonomy

Scientific name
Electron carinatum
Authority
(Du Bus de Gisignies, 1847)
Order
Coraciiformes
Family
Momotidae
Genus
Electron

Range and habitat

Migration
Resident species

Conservation

Population trend
declining

Photos

Distribution

Bird Calls

Other Birds

MacGillivray's Warbler

MacGillivray's Warbler

Geothlypis tolmiei

Chunky, skulking warbler that favors dense undergrowth. Yellow below and olive above with blue-gray head and chest. Blacker lores set off distinctive white arcs above and below eye. Adult males show darkest head; females and immatures have paler gray head and whitish throat. Found in thickets, clearcuts, open mixed forests, and riparian zones. Breeds primarily in mountainous regions of western North America; winters from Mexico to Costa Rica. Compare with Mourning Warbler, but little range overlap, and note longer tail and white eye-arcs on MacGillivray’s.

Rhinoceros Hornbill

Rhinoceros Hornbill

Buceros rhinoceros

Majestic and stately inhabitant of mature lowland and foothill forests. Pitch black with a white tail marked by a single dark bar. Enormous bill is bright orange with a prominent casque that is short and rectangular in females, long and upswept in males. Often seen in powerful flight over forests, typically in pairs or small groups. Gives low, resonant calls, usually in series: either a single-syllabled “rohh” or a disyllabic “roh-ow.”

Townsend's Shearwater

Townsend's Shearwater

Puffinus auricularis

Endangered, small black-and-white shearwater, endemic to Mexico. Found around Socorro Island mainly from November to May, and rarely offshore between Jalisco and Oaxaca. It is usually found with feeding flocks of other shearwaters, boobies, and terns. Flight is fast and strong, wheeling fairly high in strong winds. Blackish above and white below with blackish undertail coverts, fairly long tail, and white patches or saddlebags that wrap up around the base of the tail. Similar species: Black-vented Shearwater is dark brownish above without the strong black cap of Townsend’s.

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