The Red-capped Manakin is a species of bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

 in the Pipridae family.
It is found in Belize

Belize

Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...

, Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

, Costa Rica

Costa Rica

Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....

, Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

, Guatemala

Guatemala

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...

, Honduras

Honduras

Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

, Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

 and Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

.
Its natural habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

 is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

s.

The bird is probably best known for the male's unusual courting method whereby it shuffles rapidly backwards across a branch, akin to a speedy moonwalk

Moonwalk (dance)

The moonwalk or backslide is a dance technique that presents the illusion of the dancer being pulled backwards while attempting to walk forward. A popping move, it became most popular around the world after Michael Jackson executed the dance move during a performance of "Billie Jean" on Motown 25:...

.

Taxonomy

The Red-capped Manakin is one of eight or nine species in the genus Pipra. (The placement of the White-crowned Manakin

White-crowned Manakin

The White-crowned Manakin is a tiny passerine bird in the manakin family. It is a resident breeder in the tropical New World from Costa Rica to northeastern Peru and eastern Brazil. It was formerly placed in the genus Pipra, but its syringeal anatomy favours its separation as a separate genus...

 is disputed among taxonomists, with some including it in Pipra and others placing it in its own genus, Dixiphia.) It is closely related to, and in eastern Panama sometimes hybridizes with, the Golden-headed Manakin

Golden-headed Manakin

The Golden-headed Manakin, Pipra erythrocephala, is a small passerine bird which breeds in tropical South America. It is found from Panama, Colombia and Trinidad south and east to the Guianas and Brazil and northern Peru...

. The genus name Pipra comes from the scientific name given by Linnaeus to the White-crowned Manakin in 1758 — Parus pipra.

Description

The Red-capped Manakin is a small passerine, measuring 4 in (10.2 cm) in length and weighing 16 g (0.564383393681791 oz). The male is velvety black apart from a bright red head and nape, bright yellow thighs, and a pale yellow chin and wing linings. The female is olive green above, with paler, more yellow-green underparts. Both sexes have dull brown legs. The male's irides are white, while those of the female and young are brown.

While the adult male is distinctive, the female and youngsters can be confused with several similar species. The female Golden-collared Manakin

Golden-collared Manakin

The Golden-collared Manakin is a species of bird in the Pipridae family.It is found in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Panama. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and heavily degraded former forest....

 is larger, and has orange (rather than brown) legs, while the female Blue-crowned Manakin

Blue-crowned Manakin

The Blue-crowned Manakin is a species of bird in the Pipridae family. The males have a brilliant blue cap; some have black, others have green body plumage, but the relationship between the subspecies is not well understood....

 is a brighter green (rather than olive).

Habitat and range

Found primarily in humid forest and second growth woodland, the Red-capped Manakin typically occurs below 400 – above sea level, though it sometimes ranges as high as 900 m (2,952.8 ft). Most are resident, but some individuals are known to migrate to take advantage of changing food resources: the number of Red-capped Manakins caught in mist net

Mist net

Mist nets are used by ornithologists and bat biologists to capture wild birds and bats for banding or other research projects. Mist nets are typically made of nylon mesh suspended between two poles, resembling an oversized volleyball net. When properly deployed, the nets are virtually invisible...

s at La Selva Biological Reserve, in eastern Costa Rica

Costa Rica

Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....

, tripled in January and February, when a favored fruit ripened, for example, while the number caught at a nearby higher elevation site (where the fruits were not found) dropped to zero.

Food and feeding

The Red-capped Manakin is a frugivore

Frugivore

A frugivore is a fruit eater. It can be any type of herbivore or omnivore where fruit is a preferred food type. Because approximately 20% of all mammalian herbivores also eat fruit, frugivory is considered to be common among mammals. Since frugivores eat a lot of fruit they are highly dependent...

, feeding almost exclusively on fruits. These pass very quickly through the bird's digestive system, typically taking less than 18 minutes to process.