The Story
This Amazonian Motmot (Momotus momota) perched on a branch near the main park in La Macarena, in Meta, Colombia, its blue crown, green body and long racket-tipped tail all in the frame. It lives in the Amazon lowlands and the low Andean foothills, widely across South America east of the Andes, up to about 1,200 meters in Venezuela. Like most of its relatives, it nests at the end of a long tunnel dug into an earth bank. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I photographed it with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender, at 1/60 sec, f/16, ISO 3200, +1 EV. La Macarena lies where Colombia’s Andean, Amazonian and Orinoco regions meet, and tourism to nearby Caño Cristales is run through local associations of guides and boat operators.
©2023 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Amazonian Motmot (Momotus momota) belongs to the family Momotidae (Motmots) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2025), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List