Fauna

Turquoise – browed Motmot

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This enigmatic bird with beautiful plumage lives in Río Secreto, its characteristic feature is two long feathers that protrude from its tail and that are reminiscent of the pendulum of a clock, since they have a bare part (rachis) and end in a wide and colorful feather. It likes to live in the entrances of caves and cenotes, where it nests in tunnels up to a meter deep. It lives from the Gulf of Mexico to Costa Rica, and throughout that distribution, it receives various names such as motmot, guardabarrancos in Nicaragua or Torogoz in El Salvador, where it is the "National Bird"; it feeds mainly on insects.
On certain occasions the Toh moves its tail like the pendulum of a clock.
Do you want to know why he does it?
The Toh bird moves its tail from one side to the other, describing a 90 degree angle, when it detects a possible predator such as a bird of prey, a gray fox or a human being. This signal serves to warn you that you have already discovered it, so the predator loses the surprise factor and no longer initiates the attack. But it also moves it before entering its nest that is in the walls of cenotes and entrances to caves at the end of a tunnel.
When a Toh arrives with an insect for its young, it perches near the nest entrance and performs its characteristic tail feathers movement, even if it has not sighted any predators. This signal is called "dishonest" since it deceives whoever is nearby, sending the message "I saw you, you won't be able to catch me".

Once this is done, it flies to the tunnel where its nest is to feed its chicks.

Legend of the Toh.

Formerly the Toh had a long and shiny tail full of colored feathers, so beautiful that it competed with the beauty of King Kukul, a bird admired by all. She became proud and arrogant, so instead of working she would spend the day in the jungle lounging around and having the others bring her food so as not to spoil her wonderful tail.

One afternoon when the sky announced a storm, a meeting of birds was called to assign a mission to each one, such as building shelters and collecting food. The Toh refused saying he was an "aristocrat".

Finally, he appeared to work together with the rest, but when they were distracted, the Toh hid in some bushes, slipped into a crevice in a stone wall, and fell asleep, not realizing that his beautiful feathered tail had remained outside. The storm came and collapsed his tail, at the end everyone came out to celebrate. The Toh arrived to join the others, feigning weariness from the hard work. It was placed as always in its favorite place: the highest branch, so that everyone could admire it but this time everyone made fun of the appearance of its tail.

It was then that the Toh realized what had happened, was ashamed and since he did not want everyone else to know that he had not been working to save their common home, he decided to flee to the most inaccessible of the jungle, digging his house in a hole near the entrance of a cave.

That is why since then, he hides in shame, living in holes.

BASED ON THE NARRATION OF RAMÓN CASTILLO

Río Secreto

Reserva Natural es un sistema de cuevas semi-inundadas, un río subterráneo de extraordinaria belleza.

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