Manakins | Pipridae

Manakins | Saltarines

Eleven species in seven genera live in Mexico and Central America, mainly in humid lowland and foothill forest from southern Mexico to Panama, with the Long-tailed Manakin also in drier forest on the Pacific side. 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 or buzzing 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.