COSTA RICA: Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (Day 8)

As has become a tradition on many of our birding trips, today we hiked to one of the region's manakin (Pipridae) leks in Refugio de Vida Silvestre.  Due to the dry season, this was the first manakin lek I have visited that was not infested with large mosquitoes and other creepy crawlies.  The Long-tailed Manakin is similar in appearance to the Lance-tailed Manakin we observed in Panama except for 2 long slender central rectrices.  

Upon our arrival, multiple birds were comically dancing in the lek.  Several were juveniles learning the "moves" -- a process that takes more than 2 years.  A pair of competing adult males repeatedly jumped from perch to perch within inches of each other while singing beautifully in unison.

Low light and entangled vegetation made photography of these rapidly moving birds characteristically difficult -- especially to capture the complete tail which endlessly flickered across the viewfinder...