Age-Based Plumage Changes in the Lance-Tailed Manakin: A Two-Year Delay in Plumage Maturation

I investigated the relationship of plumage to age and sex in the Lance-tailed Manakin (Pipridae, Chiroxiphia lanceolata) in the lowlands of western Panama from 1999–2004. I captured birds in mist nets, categorized their plumages, examined them for molt, and followed them for several years to document plumage changes. Male Lance-tailed Manakins exhibited three distinct postjuvenal plumages. Males achieved definitive adult plumage through sequential changes that occurred in the same order as in other Chiroxiphia manakins. Definitive male plumage developed over the same time span as reported for C. caudata but one year faster than C. linearis. Juvenal male plumage was similar to that of females, and 5% of 226 females had plumage similar to formative male plumage. Genetic sexing verified that changes observed late in the formative male plumage unambiguously identified sex and age of individual birds. This information can be used in behavioral studies to identify the age of male Lance-tailed Manakins captured in any of the predefinitive plumage stages.