Chiroxiphia pareola
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
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 rainforests. It is a small, plump bird about 13 centimetres (5 in) long. Males have black plumage with a bright blue back and a red or yellow crown. Females and juveniles are olive-green with paler underparts. At breeding time, males are involved in a cooperative lekking behaviour during which they jump and twirl. This is a fairly common species with a wide range, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".
It is found in southern Colombia, eastern Venezuela, the Guyanas, northeast Brazil, the Amazon Basin in Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru; and in Tobago. A disjunct population exists on the coastal strip of southeast Brazil, about 3000 km long. The blue-backed manakin is absent in the northwest Amazon Basin, a region from central Venezuela to the southern border of Colombia. This manakin is a fairly common bird of dry and moist deciduous forests, but... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Main Ridge Forest Reserve | 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago | |
| 2 | Chapada Diamantina National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Amacayacu National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 4 | Yasuní National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 5 | Tambopata National Reserve | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 6 | Manu National Park | 🇵🇪 Peru |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maceió | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | João Pessoa | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paris Zoological Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Aquarium du palais de la Porte Dorée | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Schönbrunn Zoo | 🇦🇹 Austria |
Likely
About 60% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-backed Manakin sighting in Main Ridge Forest Reserve on a given day, based on 595 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 14th most-seen of the 103 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March to May
In those months about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-backed Manakin in Main Ridge Forest Reserve on a given day, against about 40% in September, the lowest month. Those are among Main Ridge Forest Reserve's driest months, with about 75 mm of rain a month against 230 mm in October.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Blue-backed Manakin sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Blue-backed Manakin sightings, Main Ridge Forest Reserve has the highest daily chance: about 60%. Next come Chapada Diamantina National Park (Brazil, about 20%) and Amacayacu National Natural Park (Colombia, about 10%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Blue-backed Manakin that you can see in Main Ridge Forest Reserve (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Bananaquit (about 90%), Barred Antshrike (about 80%) and Tropical Kingbird (about 70%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Blue-backed Manakin is recorded against all the birds logged in Main Ridge Forest Reserve (595 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
