The Story
I photographed this White-bearded Manakin (Manacus manacus) at the Reserva Natural El Danubio, near Morelia, Caquetá, Colombia, in January 2021. It is found from Colombia, Venezuela and Trinidad south to Bolivia and northern Argentina, in forest, secondary growth and plantations. The adult male has a black crown, upper back, wings and tail and is otherwise white. Females and young males are olive-green with orange legs. Besides the male’s buzzing display song, it gives a trilled peeerr call, and it eats fruit and some insects and spiders. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Canon R5 with the RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L for this one, at 1/90 sec, f/6.7, ISO 3200, −0.5 EV. El Danubio lies on the Eastern Andes in the Bodoquero River basin, with three trails, and visitors can watch birds from the El Milagro lookout or hike to the Moo Buinaima waterfall, about 20 meters high.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The White-bearded Manakin (Manacus manacus) belongs to the family Pipridae (Manakins) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2024), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List
