Keel-billed Motmot

How to find it

Start in the Arenal region, where birders have compared this scarce motmot with the Broad-billed near Lake Arenal. One Keel-billed was perched near a Broad-billed there, and the two species sometimes pair up in that area. Trails and roads around Arenal, and a stroll with views of the lake, are where tour groups search for it. Expect to check each motmot carefully, because it is easy to miss: one group walked the track around the Arenal Lake peninsula and found only the Broad-billed. Try to see the bird rather than trust your ears, since assuming a heard call belongs to the commoner species leads to serious errors in survey data.

How to recognise it

The adult has a rusty forehead, a black face mask, a blue line above the eye and a blue-green chin. A large black spot sits on the chest, and the belly has a cinnamon tint. The bill is black, long, broad and slightly serrated.

Length is about 32 cm and weight about 65 g, figures given for the species across its range. The tail is long and ends in a pair of racket tips, but the rackets are less showy than in other motmots and may be missing.

In Costa Rica, look for a bird that is mostly green with rufous only on the forehead. Its blue eyebrow stripes are longer than those of young Broad-billed Motmots, and the cinnamon tint sits low on the breast and belly.

What it sounds like

Recording: Oliver Komar, CC BY-SA 4.0, source, read 5 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

The Keel-billed Motmot is usually seen alone or in pairs, and in Costa Rica its behaviour is like that of the Broad-billed Motmot, which shares its range. Across its range it forages mostly in the middle layer of the forest and eats insects and fruit.

Like other motmots, it hunts insects by flying out from a perch. Watch the mid-level branches for a bird that sits and then sallies out, rather than one moving through the canopy.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it is found between about 300 and 900 m elevation, mostly in tall humid forest near ravines, ditches and streams in hilly terrain. That band is narrower than farther north, where it reaches 1,600 m in northern Central America.

It lives on the Caribbean slopes of the Cordillera de Guanacaste and Cordillera de Tilarán, and Costa Rican sources place it in the Arenal, Guanacaste and Huetar Norte conservation areas.

When to see it

It has been photographed in the Arenal region in January and February.

Similar birds

The Broad-billed Motmot is nearly identical except in adult plumage, and the adult Keel-billed looks like a juvenile Broad-billed. Both Electron motmots have much wider bills than other motmots. Check the long blue eyebrow, the rufous only on the forehead and the cinnamon low on the belly. In Costa Rica the Broad-billed is the commoner of the two, but the Keel-billed is the rarer bird.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Ricans call it Momoto Pico Quilla, and the AOCR list also gives the local name Pájaro Bobo. In other countries it appears under other Spanish names, such as Momoto Carenado.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a rare resident (R), and it is listed as Vulnerable.

Photography tips

Check each motmot carefully, as the Keel-billed is easy to miss, and photograph the forehead, eyebrow and belly tint so you can compare them with the Broad-billed later.