Keel-billed Motmot

Keel-billed Motmot, the name tells a story of its own! Bernard Amé Léonard du Bus de Gisignies (1808-1874), a Dutch ornithologist and Belgian politician, named this cousin of the Broad-billed Motmot this way in 1847. The scientific name Electron carinatum, meaning amber-golden bird with a keeled beak, refers to the upper mandible of this Motmot, which has a visible and characteristic ridge that makes it look like the keel of a ship. Let us pay tribute to Mr. du Bus de Gisignies who was able to conjure up a name that evokes this amazing bird! Electron carinatum, very similar to Electron platyrhynchum, the Broad-billed Motmot, is a small to medium-sized motmot, about 30-38 cm, with a black, long and wide beak with a rather flat aspect. The thick black loral stripe hiding the dark brown eye extends beyond the beak towards the back of the head; the forehead is brown-russet and a thick blue-turquoise eyebrow make-up the head of the Keel-billed Motmot. The crown, nape and mantle are olive green, the coverts being a darker green; the chin is of the same blue-turquoise as the eyebrows, the chest is brown-cinnamon with two black eye spots, the belly becoming paler brown and making a transition to olive on the lower part of the abdomen. The outer rectrices are grey, divided in four pairs of almost equal size with a rounded tip that give an impression of drapery; the central rectrices are blue-green with two racket-shaped endings, barred with black, which make a remarkable feature of the Keel-billed Motmot, as they are sometimes absent, either due to wear or after mating. The juveniles do not have detailed descriptions but are thought to have darker and less contrasted colourings.