The yellow-crested manakin (Heterocercus flavivertex), also called the yellow-crowned manakin,Clements, J. F., P.C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, M. Smith, and C. L. Wood. 2024. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2024. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ retrieved October 23, 2024 is a species of bird in the family Pipridae. It is found in Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, D. F. Lane, L, N. Naka, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 29 September 2025. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. South American Classification Committee associated with the International Ornithological Union. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved September 29, 2025

Taxonomy and systematics

The yellow-crested manakin is monotypic. It shares genus Heterocercus with the orange-crested manakin (H. aurantiivertex) and the flame-crested manakin (H. linteatus). The three form a superspecies.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, D. F. Lane, L, N. Naka, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 29 September 2025. A classification of the bird species of South America. South American Classification Committee associated with the International Ornithological Union. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved September 29, 2025

Description

The yellow-crested manakin is about long and weighs about . The species is sexually dimorphic. Adult males have a mostly dark olive head with an often hidden golden-yellow stripe on the crown, a slaty face, and a white throat. The throat feathers are long and silky. Their upperparts are dark olive. They have a sooty olive upper breast, a deep chestnut lower breast that becomes cinnamon-rufous on the belly, and olive flanks. Adult females have no yellow on their crown. Their head is mostly the same dark olive as their upperparts though their throat is gray. Their underparts are cinnamon-buff. Both sexes have a dark brown iris, a long narrow dark bill, and dark legs and feet. Immatures resemble adult females.Snow, D. (2020). Yellow-crowned Manakin (Heterocercus flavivertex), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.yecman2.01 retrieved October 16, 2025

Distribution and habitat

The yellow-crested manakin is found in approximately the east-central quarter of Colombia and east into Venezuela and northern Brazil. In Venezuela it occurs in extreme southeastern Apure and in most of western and central Amazonas. In Brazil it occurs north of the Amazon River from Colombia and Venezuela in the basin of the Negro River east to western Pará.

The yellow-crested manakin inhabits humid várzea forest and other scrubby forest and woodland along watercourses including blackwater rivers. In elevation it reaches about in Colombia and in Venezuela.

Behavior Movement

The yellow-crested manakin is a year-round resident.

Feeding

The yellow-crested manakin feeds on small fruits and insects. It forages from the forest's understory to its mid-story. It takes food from vegetation and branches with an aerial sally from a perch and much less often while on a perch. It sometimes joins mixed species feeding flocks for a short time.

Breeding

The yellow-crested manakin breeds between February and May in Venezuela; its season elsewhere is not known. Males defend a display territory within which they strike various poses on a perch and make a flight display. The one known nest was only partially completed; it was a cup hung in a branch fork about above a stream. Nothing else is known about the species' breeding biology.

Vocal and non-vocal sounds

The male yellow-crested manakin's "advertising call" is " a loud, whistled weeee-pítch-ooo...with punctuated or hiccupping cadence", also written as "seee-tSITseeh". It makes a "chattering weer-weer-weer" when interacting aggressively and an "emphatic chip" during its flight display. The display flight also includes a "whoosh" sound that is believed to be mechanical.

Status

The IUCN has assessed the yellow-crested manakin as being of Least Concern. It has a large range; its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified. It is considered fairly common in Colombia, locally fairly common in Venezuela, and uncommon to frequent in Brazil.

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