The Story
I photographed this Golden-headed Manakin (Ceratopipra erythrocephala) in the Bosque Municipal of San Sebastián de Mariquita, Tolima, Colombia, at about 700 meters, in October 2020. The adult male is black apart from a golden cap, white and red thighs, pink legs and a yellowish bill. Females and young males are olive-green. It is a common bird of forest, second growth and plantations, usually up to about 1,100 meters, and males court females with displays at a communal lek. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/30 sec, f/5.6, ISO 12800, +0.7 EV. The Mariquita forest is part of a 634-hectare protective reserve declared in 1960, and it was the main stage of José Celestino Mutis’s Royal Botanical Expedition, where he discovered more than 80 species of plants and animals.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Golden-headed Manakin (Ceratopipra erythrocephala) 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 2025), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List
