The Story
This male Golden-collared Manakin (Manacus vitellinus) perched on a branch in the understory near Capurganá, in Chocó, Colombia, with his bright yellow collar and olive-green body standing out against overlapping leaves. The species is found only in Panama and Colombia, reaching south into central Chocó. It eats mostly small fruits, plucked while perched or with short sallies from a perch, and usually feeds within about 6 meters of the ground, though it will go up to the canopy of fruiting trees. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I photographed it from about 12 meters with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender, at 1/125 sec, f/16, ISO 3200, −0.5 EV. Capurganá can be reached only by boat or small plane, and it has no cars, which keeps the village and its forest edges quiet for birds like this one.
©2025 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Golden-collared Manakin (Manacus vitellinus) 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 2021), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List