Motmot à gorge bleue

Identification

The blue-throated motmot is 25.5 to 28.0 cm (10.0 to 11.0 in) long and weighs 56.0 to 67.3 g (1.98 to 2.37 oz). It has a long, graduated, tail that in contrast to that of most other motmots does not have racquet tips. The side of the adult's head is ochre with a black "ear" spot. It is mostly green above and paler green below. The throat is blue with a black spot just below it. The juvenile is duller and the green of the back is washed with olive.

Taxonomie

The blue-throated motmot is monotypic. It apparently has no close relatives.

Nom scientifique

Aspatha gularis

Autorité

(Lafresnaye, 1840)

Ordre

Coraciiformes

Famille

Momotidés

Genre

Aspatha

Répartition et habitat

The blue-throated motmot is found from Oaxaca and Chiapas in Mexico south and east through Guatemala and a bit of El Salvador to Honduras. It inhabits montane evergreen and pine forest of medium to high humidity. In elevation it ranges from 1,300 to 3,000 m (4,300 to 9,800 ft) in Mexico but in Honduras it is not found below 1,800 m (5,900 ft).

Migration

Resident species

Comportement

The blue-throated motmot forages by plucking insects, especially beetles, from foliage while flying. It also eats some fruit and apparently feeds fruit to nestlings.<p>The blue-throated motmot nests in a burrow that it excavates in an earth bank; the burrows can be up to 1.8 m (5.9 ft) long and often have bends in them. In Guatemala it lays eggs in April, and a fledgling was collected in late May in Mexico. The clutch size is three.<p>The blue-throated motmot typically calls from a high exposed perch. It usually gives single "hoot" or "huuk" notes [1] but sometimes strings them together as "hoodloodloodloodl..." [2].

Conservation

Tendance de la population

declining