Blue-diademed Motmot Momotus lessonii
(aka Blue-crowned Motmot Momotus momota)
Blue-diademed Motmot, Pico Bonito, Honduras, March 2015 - click for larger image Pico Bonito, Honduras
March 2015

The Blue-diademed Motmot is distributed from southern Mexico through Central America to Panama. See the distribution map at Birdlife International.

It is now recognised as a species by several authorities such as the HBW and Birdlife International Checklist, Howard & Moore and the South American Classification Committee (See their decision here) but is still lumped as Blue-crowned Motmot by Clements and others.

Blue-diademed Motmot, Pico Bonito, Honduras, March 2015 - click for larger image There are several criteria used in this decision including the black band on the on the hind-collar and the black terminal band on the racquets as well as the interval between the two notes of the call.

The bird in photo 1 was perched within a metre of the ground and has an uncharacteristic colour and texture to its belly. I have seen this on smaller birds such as Social Flycatcher Myiozetetes similis and it turned out to be a brood patch so I wonder if this is the explanation here.

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