Blue-capped Manakin

Lepidothrix coronata

Chunky little bird found in the understory of lowland forest across much of South America east of the Andes. Male is all black with a blue crown in most areas, but in parts of eastern Peru, northern Bolivia, and western Brazil his body is greener with a yellow belly and dark face. Female is lime green with a yellow belly. She is brighter green than females of most other manakins, but quite similar to several species; can be distinguished from Green Manakin by her short tail, and from females of Opal-crowned Manakin and Snow-capped Manakins by her darker eye. Female is also very similar to females of Blue-rumped Manakin and Cerulean-capped Manakin, but typically found at lower elevations. Usually seen alone in lower to middle levels of the rainforest, but several may congregate at a fruiting tree. Males give froglike “see-pur-wee” calls, and both sexes give well-spaced “sweet” calls. Formerly called Blue-crowned Manakin. Birds found in Central America, western Colombia, and northwestern Ecuador are now considered a separate species, Velvety Manakin.

Identification

Blue-capped manakins show sexual dimorphism in weight and wing chord length. Females are heavier at 9.8 g on average with a max weight of 11.5 g and a minimum weight of 8.5 g. Males are 8.5 g on average with a maximum weight of 9.5 g and a minimum weight of 7.5 g. Males have a wing chord length of 60.45 mm on average with a maximum length of 63 mm and a minimum length of 58 mm. Females have a wing chord length of 58.76 mm on average with a maximum length of 62 mm and a minimum length of 55 mm.Males are sooty black with a bright blue crown while females are green. Juvenile plumage is similar to female plumage but is duller in color. Their first prebasic molt occurs within 2 months of leaving the nest and is a partial molt. Their second prebasic molt occurs at the end of the first breeding season or one year after their first prebasic molt. This molt is complete, so they lose their molt limits. At this stage, males gain signs of male plumage. The third prebasic molt occurs at the end of their third year and males gain full male plumage.The blue-capped manakin's contact call is a swee sound. It is used by blue-capped manakins of all ages and sex. Males will use it while perching on their song perch, while interacting with other blue-crowned manakins, and while performing some of their display behaviors. Females and fledglings use a soft swee sound during foraging. Adult females will also use this call when visiting a territorial male. Their contact call can be a single note or in bouts of a varying number of repetitions. It is a high pitch note that increases in pitch from 2.8 to 5.7 kHz. Territorial males use an advertisement call that sounds like chi-wrr. It can be a single note or 3-5 repetitions. This call is composed of three parts. First, a lower pitched swee sound of 3–5 kHz. Second, a short descending note of three stacked harmonics or 1.4, 2.8, and 4.8 kHz. Third, a harsh note of two harmonics of 2.0 and 3.9 kHz. Males make a preew call when interacting with males and females in their territory. It is composed of 4-5 rapid oscillations between 3.1 and 6 kHz. During display, males make a pee call of 1-10 repetitions. It consists of both flat notes and harmonics between 1.5 and 15 kHz.

Taxonomy

The blue-capped manakin was formally described in 1825 by the German naturalist Johann Baptist von Spix under the binomial name Pipra coronata. The type locality is the state of São Paulo de Olivença in western Brazil. The specific epithet is from Latin coronatus meaning "crowned". The blue-capped manakin is now the type species of the genus Lepidothrix that was introduced by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1854.Phylogeny based on Ohlson et al. 2013.Six subspecies are recognised, but see the text below the table.(Spix, 1825)(Meyer de Schauensee, 1953)(Todd, 1925)(Hellmayr, 1905)(Goeldi, 1905)(J. Bond & Meyer de Schauensee, 1940)With the exception of L. c. carbonata, the subspecies categories listed above are not supported phylogenetically. They were instead named based on differences in male plumage. Blue-capped manakins differ genetically into six clades based on geographic location: trans-Andean, Venezuela, North Amazon, Napo-Marañon, Central Peru, and South Peru/Bolivia. Interestingly, birds of highly different plumage fall into the same clades. For example, L. c. exquisita, which has green plumage males, and L. c. coronata, which has completely black colored males, both fall into the Central Peru clade. Based on significant vocal and phylogenetic differences, in July 2022 the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society split L. c. velutina and L. c. minuscula from L. coronata and named the resulting L. velutina the velvety manakin. They also renamed the now-reduced L. carbonata "blue-capped manakin" to avoid confusion with the pre-split species. The velvety manakin was therefore promoted to species status and the "blue-crowned manakin" renamed to the blue-capped manakin.Blue-capped manakins vary genetically based on geographic location. Physical boundaries, such as large Amazonian rivers and the Andes Mountains, tend to separate genetically distinct blue-capped manakins. The uplift of the Andes Mountains seem to be the first major source of separation between blue-capped manakin populations followed by the establishment of Amazonian rivers. The Amazon River separates North and South Amazonian clades and the Napo River separates the North Amazon and Napo-Marañon clades. Large rivers present a barrier to Blue-crowned manakins despite being flighted because they prefer the understory of terra firme (non-flooded) forests. Central Peru and South Peru/Bolivia clades and Venezuela and Amazonia clades are not separated by a geographic barrier. It is likely that they instead historically separated and evolved separately for a period of time.

Scientific name: Lepidothrix coronata
Authority: (Spix, 1825)
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Pipridae
Genus: Lepidothrix

Range and habitat

Blue-capped manakins live in terra firme forest understory of South America.

Migration: Resident species

Behavior

Migration pattern: Resident species.

Conservation

Population trend: declining.

Population trend: declining

Photos

Distribution

Bird Calls

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