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Kinglet Manakin | Machaeropterus regulus
Oostelijke gestreepte manakin | Saltarín rayado oriental | Tangará-rajado
The Kinglet Manakin is a very small manakin of the Atlantic Forest of eastern Brazil. Formerly the species also included the streaked manakins of western Amazonia and the Andes, which are now split as Striolated Manakin. The Kinglet Manakin does not occur in the guide area; older records under this name refer to the western species.
Voice
A short, high, insect-like cheep; during display buzzing and ticking wing sounds.
Recording: Mateus Gonçalves Santos — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
9 cm, compact, with a short tail. The male has a red crown, olive-green upperparts and whitish underparts with rufous-red streaks on the breast and flanks. The female is olive-green above, without a red crown, with pale underparts with faint streaks. Young males resemble the female.
Confusion species
Striolated Manakin Machaeropterus striolatus is very similar and is the streaked manakin that occurs in the guide area, in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Fiery-capped Manakin Machaeropterus pyrocephalus has a yellow crown with a red central stripe. Painted Manakin Machaeropterus eckelberryi is restricted to northern Peru.
Habitat
Humid lowland and hill forest of the Atlantic Forest, also forest edges and older secondary forest, from the lowlands to about 1000 m. It lives in the middle storey and the understorey and eats small fruits and insects.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Not present in the guide area: the species is absent from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and the Galápagos. Records under this name in the guide area go back to the older, broader concept of the species and belong to Striolated Manakin. Outside the guide area in the Atlantic Forest of eastern Brazil, roughly from Bahia to Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
- Resident
- Summer visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
- Winter visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Streaked manakins in the guide area are Striolated Manakins or, in northern Peru, possibly Painted Manakins. The eastern species can only be found in eastern Brazil.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species is locally fairly common in the remaining parts of the Atlantic Forest, but the forest it inhabits is heavily fragmented.
Scientific name
Machaeropterus regulus | (Hahn, 1819)
Hahn described the species in 1819 as Pipra regulus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Machaeropterus was introduced in 1854 by Bonaparte. The genus name combines Greek makhaira, 'knife' or 'dagger', with -pteros, '-winged', after the thickened wing feathers of the males. The specific name is Latin regulus, 'kinglet', diminutive of rex, 'king', after the red crown. The specimen the first description was based on came from Bahia, Brazil.