White-Collared Manakin

In Tikal NP, on March 19, 2026, I saw several white-collared manakins with my guide Rony. They were imbedded deep in some spindly trees and I was not able to get my camera lens to focus on them and they were gone before I could get my lens on manual and focused. Their yellow bellies and white collars stood out as did a pretty constant clicking noise. 

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

Several years ago I saw a very similar golden-collard manakin in Colombia and got much better views of it. The white-collared and golden-collared manakins are known to hybridize. 

Golden-collared manakin in Colombia. 

I also saw and only got very poor photos of the club-winged manakin and striolated manakin in a different part of Colombia and I now consider the manakins very interesting and difficult to see birds that I look forward to finding and seeing.  

Illustration of a female white-collared manakin from Birds of the World. There may have been females in the grouping I saw, but it was the males with the white-collars, jumping around and clicking, that stood out. It is a bird I would really loved to get a photo of. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

During breeding the males are involved in lekking behavior. A lek is a congregation of males gathered to compete in competitive displays and courtship rituals known as "lekking." The male white-collared manakins congregate on the ground and puff-out their neck feathers and do loud wing-snapping displays.