ABSTRACT
Motmots are colorful birds limited to Neotropical woodlands and are known for their iridescent blue and green facial patterns and racquet-shaped tails, formed by the breaking of weakly attached barbs. Their strong bills with serrated edges are capable of grabbing a variety of insects, arthropods, and small vertebrates, as well as some fruit. Molt in motmots is not well understood, but it is believed to follow a Complex Basic Strategy. The preformative molt can be limited to partial in some species, but can be extremely cryptic, as the adult body plumage and ss covs are relatively soft, thus difficult to distinguish from juvenile feathers. Juvenile plumages of motmots are like that of the adult, but duller, and in some species with more brownish tones to flight feathers. Molt appears to proceed distally from p1, proximally from s1, and bidirectionally from s10.
