My favorite bird is probably the Pelican. Watching them soar over the water always makes me smile. But I'm also a huge fan of a little bird that is fairly common throughout Central America called the Turquoise-browed Motmot, or in Spanish, guardabarrancas (bank guard) for the way they are prone to nesting in holes in the cuts of not-too-busy roads. In biologist (latin binomial) this bird is the Eumomota superciliosa, which I think is fantastic because any pretty animal with the word "supercilious" in its scientific name is kind of fun. Aside from their beautiful plummage, the most striking thing about this Kingfisher relative is its tailfeathers- they look like the pendulum on a grandfather clock. Like a clock, when the bird is getting antsy, their tailfeathers twitch back and forth before they fly away. I know this because I've seen it dozens of times while sneaking up on them trying to get a better picture than the one I took today. But for now, we'll just have to enjoy what we've got.

Labels: photo