The Story
This female Golden-collared Manakin (Manacus vitellinus) perched just above eye level in the garden at Casa Galú, a small hotel in Capurganá, in Chocó, Colombia. Females are olive-green and lack the male’s bright yellow collar. The species lives only in Panama and Colombia, where its range reaches south into central Chocó, from sea level to about 1,200 meters. It eats mostly small fruits, plucked while perched or on short sallies, usually within about 6 meters of the ground. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender, at 1/20 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