Manakins | Pipridae

Manakins | Saltarines | Manakins

Thirty-seven species in fifteen genera live in the area of this guide, mainly in humid lowland forest of the Amazonian foothills and the Chocó and in foothill and cloud forest on the Andean slopes, home among others to the Golden-winged and Club-winged Manakins. Manakins are small, compact songbirds with a large head, a short, broad bill and in most species a short tail. The sexes differ strongly: males are black or green with bright red, yellow, white or blue areas, females plain olive green. They eat mainly small fruits, plucked from the branch in a short flight, together with insects. They are known for their display at traditional sites in the forest, where males, in a group or alone, keep a patch of ground or a branch clear and show off there: some species produce snapping, buzzing or even violin-like sounds with modified wing feathers, others jump to and fro, or two males perform a dance together. The female chooses a mate and does everything else alone: she builds a shallow cup slung in a horizontal fork of a twig, usually low above the ground, incubates the clutch of usually two spotted eggs and feeds the young. The male plays no further part.