Priorities for Future Research

The Trinidad Motmot has a restricted distributed, but is fairly common, especially on Tobago. Nonetheless, most aspects of its natural history are very poorly known. Presumably this population attracted little attention, as it was classified for decades as only a geographically isolated subspecies of the very widespread "Blue-crowned Motmot" Momotus momota. Consequently most aspects of its natural history are poorly documented or are not described at all. There is no information on such topics as age at first breeding, life span and survivorship, dispersal, population regulation, molts, territoriality and population density, sexual behavior, and responses to predators. There also is very little information regarding the diet and reproductive biology of the Trinidad Motmot, and even the vocal repertoire of this species is very poorly documented.