Cerulean-capped Manakin Lepidothrix coeruleocapilla Scientific name definitions

The Cerulean-capped Manakin, a central and southern Peruvian endemic, is one of the most striking and contrastingly coloured of all the Lepidothrix manakins; it is also one of the most poorly known, with to date virtually nothing published on any aspect of its behaviour. It is principally known from humid, mossy foothill and subtropical forest habitats in the upper tropical zone. Males are more or less unmistakable within their range, being largely matt black, with a bright cerulean blue crown and nape, and an even deeper, electric cerulean blue lower back, rump and uppertail coverts patch. Females, which are responsible for all aspects of the nesting process, are more or less uniform green-colored as a result of the need for camouflage, although what are presumably older females may sometimes show a few blue feathers on the crown. The Cerulean-capped Manakin forms a superspecies with the Blue-crowned Manakin (Lepidothrix coronata), which it replaces at higher elevations, there currently being no known overlap in altitudinal range between the two species in Peru.

Upper tropical zone on E slope of Andes of C & SE Peru (S Huánuco S to Puno).

Nest with eggs in Nov in SE Peru was a low cup in fork of tree, c. 1∙7 m above the ground, attached to the branches using live material from the supporting tree, which hanged below the nest forming a long tail, and spider webs (1 Kirwan, G.M., Durand, A., Beadle, D. and Shirihai, H. (2011). First nesting data for Cerulean-capped Manakin (Lepidothrix coeruleocapilla) from southeast Peru. Ornitología Neotropical. 22: 623–626. Close ). No other information.