Long-tailed Manakin Chiroxiphia linearis

The Long-tailed Manakin, the northernmost representative of the genus Chiroxiphia, is distributed across much of the Pacific slope of Middle America, from southern Mexico south to northwestern Costa Rica, and is also the most flamboyant, on account of the male’s remarkable tail. The male’s plumage is almost entirely black except for a small but obvious red crown patch, and for the blue back, which is a characteristic of the entire genus. Females in contrast are dull green birds, much like other manakins. In the past, the Long-tailed Manakin has sometimes been considered conspecific with both the Lance-tailed Manakin (Chiroxiphia lanceolata) and the Blue-backed Manakin (Chiroxiphia pareola), and these three perhaps form a superspecies. In Costa Rica, the Long-tailed Manakin’s local name is el Toledo, an onomatopoetic name derived from its distinctive song.