Red-capped Manakin is famous as the bird that dances as Michael Jackson. I can moonwalk.

Some of you may have heard of my book project “1000 birds to see before you die“. If not click the link. In any case, the project is slowly running along. We are still working with the database and the lists to choose the 1000 birds that will be featured in the book.  Some birds are just given. So without further a due, I give to you a new daily blog series. I may be very random these birds come up.  But one by one – one every day – the 1000 birds will be presented. This means it will take about 3 years to finish the series. And this is also a good deadline for the book. 3 years. First one out is the

Red-capped Manakin Pipra mentalis

This is partly a tribute to Michael Jackson. Here is the bird that does the moonwalk. There are four Manakin species with red heads and black body, but the Red-capped Manakin has the coolest display.

Where to see Red-capped Manakin.

It is distributed from the Yucatan in Mexico to west Ecuador.  Many lodges in Central America have lek-sites staked out, where the moonwalk can be seen.

Please let me know any  link all of a sudden does not work. Red-capped Manakin photo Jorge Montejo under Creative Commons license. All photos made by Gunnar Engblom on this blog may be used under Creative Commons license for as long as they are attributed the original article with a link.