Family Momotidae
Lesson’s Motmot
Momotus lessonii
In Spanish: Momoto Coroniazul (Pájaro Bobo, Bobo Azul)
- Resident
Shaded cloud forest at Monteverde and on the Curi-Cancha trail, sitting very still. All year.
Ooo-doot. Low and soft, like an owl, from somewhere in the shade of the Monteverde cloud forest. Often that call is the first sign of this motmot.
It sits still for long stretches, and in dense forest it is hard to pick out, big as it is. If you carry an older field guide, look for it under a wider motmot species that scientists have since split, that is divided, into several. The official list now calls this one Lesson’s Motmot, and it is the same bird.
Where to see it
- Hotspot page
- Named place
- Nearby lodge (numbers match the cards)
- Monteverde Cloud Forest Reservein the cloud forest, with the Collared Trogon and the Keel-billed Toucan.
- Curi-Cancha Reserve, Monteverdeone of five birds our trip pages name from a single morning on this trail, with the Three-wattled Bellbird and the Resplendent Quetzal.
Nearby lodges
Within 20 km of a place on the map, in the same zone.
- 1
Trapp Family Lodge0.7 km from Monteverde Cloud Forest ReserveSee the lodge
How to recognise it
The head is the thing to learn. The centre of the crown is black, ringed by a band of blue, a diadem, and a black mask runs through the eye. That head pattern settles it.
Listen first, though. The call is that low, owl-like ooo-doot.
It nests in a tunnel dug into an earth bank and lays three or four white eggs.
Where it lives
Forest and woodland, from southern Mexico to western Panama. In Costa Rica our pages place it in the Monteverde cloud forest and on the Curi-Cancha trail, which climbs from pre-montane humid forest at the pasture edge through secondary forest into primary forest.
When to see it
All year.
Trips that find it
- Birding in Costa Rica's Top Three Destinations9 nightsSee the trip
- Birding in Costa Rica's Northern Zone11 nightsSee the trip
- Costa Rica Classic Birding, All Inclusive8 nightsSee the trip
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Plan my birding tripHow we know this 1 sources, each read on the date shown
- Wikipedia: Lesson's motmot read 4 November 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesson%27s_motmot