White-bearded Manakin - Manacus manacus

White-bearded Manakin (Manacus manacus)

Brazil

The White-bearded Manakin is distributed throughout most of the Amazon Basin and the Guianas with disjunct populations on the Pacific coast of Ecuador and in eastern and south-eastern Brazil.

It is found in lower levels along forest borders and secondary woodland as well as in campina and restinga woodland.

The male is black above with a white collar and throat and white to greyish underparts. The female, seen in photos 4 and 5, is olive above and lighter below with a greyish throat. Both sexes have orange legs.

They are usually found singly as they forage for fruit and the occasional insect except when the males are leking. The pictures of the male were taken in a lek of about 20 males in the Atlantic Rain Forest at Murici. It is a fascinating site as they dance around trying to attract females. The song changes depending on whether the bird is on the ground or not.

There are illustrations in Ridgely & Tudor, Volume 2, Plate 47.

Female White-bearded Manakin, Ubatuba, São Paulo, Brazil, August 2002 - click for larger image

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