This feathered beauty is the Turquoise-browed Motmot (Eumomota supercilious). Spanish speakers call this bird Momoto Cejiceleste or Pajaro Bobo.
This unique and colorful tropical bird nests in burrows but also perches on telephone wires, fence posts, or in this case, in a branch right in front of Casa Estrella at the Finca Bellavista treehouse community. The community base camp is a great location for novice and expert birdwatchers to see the avifauna of Costa Rica.
Turquoise-browed Motmot in front of treehouse
Even with that long and unusual tail, this bird can dig a burrows up to 2.5 meters long and 8 centimeters in diameter. When it is perched, the Motmot swings its tail back and forth like a pendulum. Biologists have found that, without teaching, these birds avoid poisonous coral snakes, but eat nonpoisonous ones.