The lance-tailed manakin (''Chiroxiphia lanceolata'') is a small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

which breeds in tropical

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

from

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

to northern

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. This

manakin The manakins are a Family (biology), family, Pipridae, of small Tyranni, suboscine passerine birds. The group contains some 54 species distributed through the American tropics. The name is from Middle Dutch ''mannekijn'' "little man" (also the so ...

is a fairly common bird of dry and moist deciduous forests, but not

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

. It is a small, compact bird about long and similar to the

blue-backed manakin The blue-backed manakin (''Chiroxiphia pareola'') is a small passerine bird which breeds in tropical South America, its range extending from Colombia and Tobago to southeastern Brazil. It is found in deciduous forests but not evergreen rainforest ...

, but both sexes have the two central tail

feather Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and a premier ...

s elongated to form a spike. Males have black plumage with a blue back, a red crown and orange legs. Females and juveniles are olive-green with paler underparts. At breeding time, males are involved in a cooperative behaviour during which they jump up and down alternately. This is a fairly common species with a wide range, and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has rated its conservation status as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

Description

Like other manakins, the lance-tailed manakin is a compact, brightly coloured forest bird, typically 13.5 cm long and weighing 17.5 g. Both sexes have bring orange legs and two central tail

s elongated to form a spike. Females are olive-green, with slightly paler underparts. Most females are solid green, however, a small portion have tawny or red caps. Adult males are mostly black, with a red cap and sky-blue back. Young males are olive but show a red cap and the start of a blue back as they mature. Male lance-tailed manakins do not reach their full adult plumage until approximately 26 months after hatching. This species is similar to

, ''Chiroxiphia pareola'', which breeds further south and east, but the latter lacks the spiky tail, and the male has a somewhat darker blue back.

Ecology

The male lance-tailed manakin has an interesting breeding display, unusual in that it is cooperative rather than competitive. Two males perch next to each other on a bare stick and jump up and down alternately, sometimes giving short flights. Groups of birds may perform together, with a different stick for each pair of displaying males. The female builds a cup nest in a tree; two brown-mottled cream

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

s are laid, and incubated entirely by the female for about 20 days. The lance-tailed manakin has a number of calls, including a ''Toe-LEE-do'', a ''curry-ho'', and a frog-like buzzing croak given by displaying males. These manakins eat

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

and some

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

Status

This bird has a very wide range, is fairly common and is presumed to have a large total population. The population trend is thought to be stable and the

has rated the bird's conservation status as being of "

References

* ''Birds of Venezuela'' by Hilty, {{Taxonbar, from=Q841116

lance-tailed manakin The lance-tailed manakin (''Chiroxiphia lanceolata'') is a small passerine bird which breeds in tropical Central and South America from Costa Rica to northern Venezuela. This manakin is a fairly common bird of dry and moist deciduous forests, b ...

Birds of Panama Birds of Colombia Birds of Venezuela