White-Bearded Manakin
David Attenborough presents the white-bearded manakin of tropical South America.
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Sir David Attenborough presents the White-Bearded manakin of tropical South America. The sound of party-poppers exploding in a forest clearing tells you that white-bearded manakins are displaying at a lek. At a carefully chosen spot each male clears the forest floor of leaves and other debris before his performance begins. The commonest display is the snap-jump. As he jumps forward he strikes the back of his wings together creating a loud snapping sound followed by an excited "pee-you" call. Snap-jumps are often followed by grunt jumps or a manoeuvre known as "slide-down-the-pole". These displays continue throughout the day, but intensify when females visit.
Producer : Andrew Dawes
Last on
Clip
![]()
White-bearded manakin
Duration: 00:14
White-bearded manakin (Manacus manacus)
Webpage image courtesy of Nigel Bean / naturepl.com
NPL Ref 01055017 © Nigel Bean / naturepl.com
Recording of white-bearded manakin by Curtis A Marantz / Ref: ML 117134
This programme contains a wildtrack recording of the white-bearded manakin kindly provided by The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology; recorded by Curtis A Marantz, 23 Jan 1997 in Brazil.
Broadcasts
- Wed 10 Sep 201405:58BBC Radio 4
- Sun 14 Sep 201408:58BBC Radio 4
- Tue 15 Sep 201505:58BBC Radio 4
- Wed 22 Aug 201805:58BBC Radio 4
- Sun 31 Jan 202108:58BBC Radio 4
- Thu 26 Oct 202305:58BBC Radio 4
Podcast: Planet Puffin
Podcast
![]()
Tweet of the Day
Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year




