Birds make beautiful chirping songs, but have you ever seen them make music with their wings? That is one of the skills of the club-winged manakin! These birds make music with their wings by vibrating them, making a musical “humming” sound. This video by @the_wild_savior shows exactly this behavior! If you’re curious to learn more about these music-making birds, keep reading below!
The club-winged manakin lives in Central America.
©”club-winged manakin” by Gary T. Leavens is licensed under BY-SA 4.0. – Original / License
About the Club-Winged Manakin
The club-winged manakin is a fascinating species of bird with a unique ability to make sounds. These birds are native to Ecuador and Colombia, where they live in environments called cloud forests. Cloud forests are tropical forests found at high altitudes. The consistent cloud coverage creates a cool and moist environment that the birds enjoy. Club-winged manakins belong to the Pipridae family, which includes around 50 species of manakins. They are small birds, measuring roughly four inches long, and exhibit sexual dimorphism: males have vibrant plumage, while females are typically olive-brown and less colorful.
The sound that is seen in the video is made for a specific reason: mating. The mechanics behind how they produce this sound are fascinating and quite unique in the animal kingdom. The club-winged manakin has a set of secondary feathers that have evolved to make the sound. One of the feathers has around seven ridges running across it, while the other has a stiff, club-shaped tip. When the manakin wants to make sound, it scrapes the two feathers together to cause rapid vibrations. During mating, the male raises the feathers above its back and shakes them extremely fast—about 107 times per second—with the ridged feather being struck about twice per wingbeat, resulting in approximately 214 sounds per second.
Why Do They Make These Sounds?
While the sound being made sounds almost like an alarm, it is for courtship. During something called a lekking display, the male will make the sound to attract female club-winged manakins for mating. A pure and sustained tone indicates good physical quality in the male manakin, which is part of a process called sexual selection. Sexual selection is a process in which females choose mates based on specific traits—in this case, the male’s ability to produce the sound effectively. This unique evolutionary trait has resulted in the nickname “nature’s musician.”
The post Meet the Club-Winged Manakin—the Bird That Sings with Its Wings appeared first on A-Z Animals.
