Olive Manakin

Generally common within its narrow tepui-slope band but quiet and inconspicuous, so under-detected; a 'work-for-it' bird usually picked up in mixed feeding flocks on the upper Escalera rather than seen casually.

Large, relatively long-tailed, drab manakin — entirely dull olive-green, slightly paler and yellower below, with no bright markings, no crown patch and no contrasting wing or belly color. The uniform plainness plus large size and long tail is the ID within its limited range. (Genus also treated as Xenopipo uniformis.)

Humid, wet, stunted mossy forest and Melastomataceae-dominated second growth on tepui slopes, ~800-2,100 m — higher and mossier than Scarlet-horned and Orange-bellied Manakins.

Typically solitary, quiet and sluggish; perches silently and inconspicuously at mid to lower levels inside shady forest, often detected only when it joins upper-slope mixed feeding flocks. Frugivorous, favoring melastome fruit.

Inconspicuous; soft, easily overlooked notes and a thin song typical of the genus — not a loud advertiser like the brighter manakins. Listen on Xeno-canto / Macaulay Library — search 'Olive Manakin' or 'Xenopipo uniformis' (recordings available, though fewer than for showier congeners).

Don't expect a flashy lek — work the upper-Escalera mixed flocks slowly and check every plain olive bird; clients should be briefed that this is a 'subtle endemic' and the win is the tick, not a spectacle.