Fiery-capped Manakin - BirdForum Opus

Subspecies pyrocephalus
Photo © by Luiz
Mato Grosso, Brazil, August, 2016

Machaeropterus pyrocephalus

Identification

8-9cm (3-3½ in)

Male

Subspecies pyrocephalus
Photo © by Stanley Jones
Villa Carmen Lodge, Pilicopata, Cusco Department, Peru, September 2018

• Golden cap and nape with red median stripe (paler yellow and less prominent median stripe in pallidiceps)
• Rosy rufous to maroon rest of upperparts
• Most of wings olive
• Black spots on tertials and some whitish on inner secondaries
• Short olive tail with pointed feathers
• Whitish throat
• Streaked dull pink and whitish rest of underparts
• Dark red eye

Female

• Olive head and upperparts
• Pale greyish throat
• Pale and dull olive with blurry streaking on underparts, tinged yellowish belly

Juveniles similar to females.

Similar species

Female is similar to Dwarf Tyrant-Manakin and Tiny Tyrant-Manakin (which see for differences across the three species).

Distribution

South America: found in Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil.
Very local occurence in its range but easily overlooked in forest understorey.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are two subspecies^[1]:

• M. p. pallidiceps:

• Southern Venezuela (north-western Bolívar) and extreme northern Brazil (Roraima)

• M. p. pyrocephalus:

• Eastern Peru (San Martín) to northern Bolivia and western Amazonian Brazil

Habitat

Lowland rainforest. Occurs up to 1200m, mostly lower.

Behaviour

Diet

Feeds on small fruits and insects. Snatches or plucks them in flight.

Breeding

The male displays at a lek in hearing distance of other males. It hangs downwards from a horizontal perch and twists very rapidly from side to side, becoming a blur.
A nest in Venezuela was found in March. Lays 2 eggs.

Movement

Presumably a resident species.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Del Hoyo, J, A Elliot, and D Christie, eds. 2004. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 9: Cotingas to Pipits and Wagtails. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8487334696
3. Avibase

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Fiery-capped Manakin. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 2 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Fiery-capped_Manakin

External Links

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