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Blue-crowned motmot

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Found from Mexico to Argentina, this brilliantly-colored kingfisher relative is the only one of the nine members of the Tropical American motmot family to be widely kept in zoos, where many have bred. Eggs are laid in burrows dug in the earth. The remarkable pendulum-like tail develops normally at first, but parts of two feathers are shed as they develop, resulting in “racquets”. The strange name may be derived from this bird’s whooping calls.

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