Since 2004 · Licensed by the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT)

Broad-billed Motmot (Electron platyrhynchum)Broad-billed Motmot

Family Momotidae

Broad-billed Motmot

Electron platyrhynchum

In Spanish: Momoto Piquiancho (Pájaro Bobo)

  • Resident

Cinnamon motmot with a broad flat bill, found on the Caribbean slope.

The Broad-billed Motmot is a cinnamon-rufous bird with a narrow black eye mask, green wings and a blue tail. In Costa Rica it is a regular bird of the humid Caribbean slope forests.

Birders meet it around Sarapiquí and La Selva, and visitors have also seen it near the Arenal Hanging Bridges. It is often hard to spot until it swings its tail like a pendulum.

How to find it

Motmots are easiest to find right after dawn and at dusk, and by knowing their songs, when they may come into more open habitat. At other times they usually hide in dark ravines. Forested ravines and streams are often good places, perhaps for the embankments or the bigger insects. It usually perches and sings in the lower canopy or upper understory.

How to recognise it

This is a cinnamon-rufous motmot with a narrow black eye mask, a black spot in the middle of the chest, green wings and sides, and a blue tail. The bill is black, very broad and flat, and that bill is what gives the bird its name. It is fairly small for a motmot, about 31 to 39 cm long. The racket tips on the tail are less showy than on many other motmots and may be missing. Compared with the Rufous Motmot, it has a smaller body, a blue-green chin and a larger central chest spot, and it looks chunky and large-headed.

What it sounds like

0:09

Recording: River Ahlquist, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

It is usually seen alone or in pairs. It sits motionless on horizontal branches in the middle levels of the forest, makes short flights to catch insects and other small animals, then settles quietly again. It eats fruit, centipedes, spiders, insects, butterflies, dragonflies, small frogs and lizards. It drops lower to feed on Heliconia fruit. In Costa Rica the nest is a tunnel about one metre long dug into a hillside.

Where it lives

It lives in humid lowland forest and heavily degraded former forest, up to about 1,100 m elevation, and prefers fairly open areas. It usually stays in the middle levels of the forest. In Costa Rica look for it in lowland or foothill forest on the Caribbean slope, including tall second growth, and the northern parts of the country. It likes forest with embankments where it can nest.

When to see it

In Costa Rica, breeding runs from February to May.

Similar birds

The Keel-billed Motmot is very similar, and an adult Keel-billed looks like a juvenile Broad-billed. The Rufous Motmot is larger, with brighter rufous running lower down the belly, no green chin and a much narrower bill.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The Costa Rican Spanish name is Momoto Piquiancho, and the AOCR list adds the nickname Pájaro Bobo, roughly 'fool bird'. Elsewhere in Latin America it is also called Momoto Picoancho, Barranquero Piquigrueso (Colombia), Guardabarranco Canelo Menor (Nicaragua) and Taragón pico ancho (Honduras).

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as resident (R), and BirdLife International rates it Least Concern.

Photography tips

One photographer met a pair in the forest, and when they split up, one flew to a spot where more light came through the canopy, which gave a better view. A guided walk once had a close look at one perched on a low branch right above the group.

How we know this 22 sources, each read on the date shown
  1. Beauty of Birds read 2026-11-04https://beautyofbirds.com/broadbilledmotmots/
  2. Wikipedia read 2026-11-04https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_(bird)
  3. Oiseaux.net read 2026-11-04https://www.oiseaux.net/en/oiseaux/broad-billed.motmot.html
  4. Wikipedia (Asturian) read 2026-11-04https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_platyrhynchum
  5. Bird Watching Costa Rica read 2026-11-04https://www.birdwatchingcostarica.com/ave/broad-billed-motmot/
  6. Wikipedia read 2026-11-04https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad-billed_motmot
  7. Animalia.bio read 2026-11-04https://animalia.bio/broad-billed-motmot
  8. EcoRegistros read 2026-11-04https://www.ecoregistros.org/ficha/Electron-platyrhynchum
  9. Birding Craft read 2026-11-04https://birdingcraft.com/wordpress/2014/06/13/where-to-see-motmots-when-birding-costa-rica/
  10. Flickr (natural history notes, Costa Rica) read 2026-11-04https://www.flickr.com/photos/jobando/23140031240
  11. MC Curation (quoting Birds of the World) read 2026-11-04https://mccuration.com/broad-billed-motmot-gallery/
  12. Native Backyards read 2026-11-04https://nativebackyards.com/birds-of-costa-rica/
  13. Sand in My Suitcase read 2026-11-04https://sandinmysuitcase.com/beautiful-birds-of-costa-rica/
  14. Expeditions read 2026-11-04https://www.expeditions.com/travel-guide/costa-rica-travel-guide/birding-destinations-in-costa-rica
  15. 35photo (photo caption using AOCR name) read 2026-11-04https://35photo.pro/photo_14322365
  16. Avibase read 2026-11-04https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?avibaseid=87A541779DCA7518&avibaseid=87A541779DCA7518
  17. Don Roberson, Bird Families of the World read 2026-11-04https://creagrus.com/motmots.html
  18. Lifer Tours read 2026-11-04https://www.lifertours.com/single-post/2020/09/09/whats-happening-with-the-keel-billed-motmot-in-costa-rica
  19. Life History of the Broad-billed Motmot (Skutch) read 2026-11-04https://www.coraciiformestag.com/Research/Motmot/p0074-p0094_1_.pdf
  20. Howlers Costa Rica Real Escapes read 2026-11-04https://howlermag.com/motmots-of-costa-rica/
  21. Canopy Family read 2026-11-04https://canopytower.com/rufous-motmot/
  22. Encyclopedia.com (Grzimek's) read 2026-11-04https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/motmots-momotidae