Living Bird – Araripe Manakin

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We sent a reporting team—Living Bird magazine editor Gus Axelson and multimedia producers Gerrit Vyn and Andy Johnson—to the northeastern corner of Brazil to produce a story about one of the world’s most unique and endangered birds: the stunning, red-crested Araripe Manakin. Only first scientifically described in 1998, the bird has already become one of the most-sought-after species for globe-trotting birders visiting Brazil. It only lives in a single 30-mile-long forested stretch of the Araripe Plateau in the state of Ceara, and water development and usage by people in that region threatens to drain the wet forests and thereby destroying the Araripe Manakin’s habitat. Featured as the cover article in the spring 2018 issue of Living Bird, and complemented by stunning photography in print and 4K HD multimedia videos online, the resulting story—“Little Soldier of the Araripe, Keeper of the Spring Waters”—moved readers deeply and even mobilized support for the Brazilian conservation group, Aquasis, that is taking the lead in Araripe Manakin conservation work. Living Bird readers wrote to the editor in response to the story: “Beyond one of the best reads I have done in the past week! Thank you for all the information you have provided. I will contact the Nature Conservancy and see if they can respond somehow.” and “A wonderfully told story of a beautiful bird and the harsh realities of the pressure on habitat that human beings are responsible for …” Alberto Campos, director of Aquasis in Brazil, said that his organization received many requests to visit the organization’s Araripe Manakin reserve and donations to support their work. Attached is an image of the male Araripe Manakin from the Living Bird article.