The Rufous Motmot is a forest bird with a rufous head and chest and a blue-green belly. The shape of its tail tip differs between subspecies.
The head and chest are rufous, with a dark mark behind the eye. The belly is blue-green and the back dark green, with elongated central tail feathers. Whether the tail ends in bare-shafted tips differs between subspecies.
It is usually sedentary and uses the lower canopy of humid forest. It eats insects, lizards, amphibians, and other small prey, as well as fruit.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.