Momotus subrufescens
Silhouette: Sofía Terán Sánchez · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~60%
The whooping motmot (Momotus subrufescens) is a colorful near-passerine bird in the family Momotidae. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. The whooping motmot and the blue-capped (Momotus coeruleiceps), Trinidad (M. bahamensis), Amazonian (M. momota), Lesson's (M. lessonii), and Andean motmots (M. aequatorialis) were at one time all considered conspecific. They were split following a 2009 publication which detailed their differences.
The whooping motmot's back and wings are olive-green and the underparts dull brown. It has a long, green to blue, tail that has extended feathers with racquet tips that are blue tipped with black. Its crown is black surrounded by a blue band, and it has a black eyemask bordered with turquoise. Twenty-seven specimens of the nominate whooping motmot weighed 75 to 124 g (2.6 to 4.4 oz).
The whooping motmot has two disjunct populations. The nominate subspecies is found from eastern Panama to northern and... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soberanía National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 2 | Tayrona National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 3 | Machalilla National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 4 | Darién National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 5 | Parque Natural Metropolitano | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 6 | Chagres National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guayaquil | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 2 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bronx Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Moody Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Aviario Nacional de Colombia | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 5 | Topeka Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Whooping Motmot sighting in Darién National Park on a given day, based on 73 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 95th most-seen of the 397 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April, June and December
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Whooping Motmot in Darién National Park on a given day, against under 5% in November, the lowest month.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Whooping Motmot sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Whooping Motmot sightings, Darién National Park ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Soberanía National Park (Panama, about 30%), Tayrona National Natural Park (Colombia, about 20%) and Machalilla National Park (Ecuador, about 20%).
Same family: Momotidae
The closest relatives of the Whooping Motmot that you can see in Darién National Park (family Momotidae, Motmots) are Rufous Motmot (about 10%), Tody Motmot (about 10%) and Broad-billed Motmot (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Whooping Motmot is recorded against all the birds logged in Darién National Park (73 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
