One of Central America’s most “wait…what is that?” forest birds. At first glance, it has the classic motmot look—green body, long tail, and a calm, almost statuesque way of sitting still on a branch—but then the details hit you. It wears a bold black face mask with a bright turquoise “eyebrow” and chin, plus a warm rusty forehead that looks like it was brushed on with paint. It’s also one of only two species in the genus Electron, making it a close cousin of the broad-billed motmot, but with its own signature features and a much patchier, more limited presence across the region.

The bird’s most famous trait is right in its name: the “keel-billed” part. Its bill is long, wide, and slightly flattened, and the top has a noticeable raised ridge—like the keel of a boat—giving it a strong, specialized look that sets it apart from other motmots. Then there’s the tail. The keel-billed motmot has the classic motmot “rackets” at the ends of its two middle tail feathers—oval tips on bare-looking shafts that can swing like a pendulum when it’s perched. Fun twist: those racket tips aren’t always perfect, and they can sometimes be missing because of wear (and often after breeding), so a bird can look extra fancy one month and a bit “unstyled” the next.

It’s also a bird of very specific places. The keel-billed motmot has a broken, uneven range along the Caribbean side of Central America, from southern Mexico through parts of Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, and into northern Costa Rica. It favors humid evergreen forest, especially ravines, steep gullies, and stream-cut slopes—the kind of shady, wet forest pockets that feel cooler and quieter than the surrounding woodland. It’s not known for migration; it tends to stay put, which makes sense for a bird so tied to these tucked-away forest lanes.

Distribution

Country

Population est.

Status

Year

Comments

Belize

2020

Costa Rica

2020

Guatemala

2020

Honduras

2020

Mexico

2020

Nicaragua

2020