Club-winged Manakin

Fascinating facts about the Club-winged Manakin

• The club-winged manakin shakes its wings back and forth about one hundred times each second, a rate that is double the wing-beat speed recorded for hummingbirds. Each shake makes the specially ridged feather strike its partner feather twice, so a single wing can emit fourteen clicks per motion. At that speed the bird produces roughly fourteen hundred individual sounds every second, creating a rapid mechanical trill that forms the core of its courtship display.
• Unlike most birds whose wing bones are hollow, the club-winged manakin has solid wing bones.
• The club-winged manakin can generate musical tones with its wings, a capability not recorded in any other bird. Its wing feathers act like a built-in instrument, with ridged and stiff feathers striking each other to create a "tip-tip-beeuwww" sound that rings. This form of sonation, comparable to insect stridulation, is rare among vertebrates and highlights a specialised sexual-selection trait.
• During the breeding season, which runs from at least March to August in Colombia, single males gather on a thin branch to perform a lek display. Each male perches as high as about 7 m above the ground, giving the courtship a lofty stage. While displaying, the male also produces a high-pitched seet followed by up to eight loud keah! notes that accompany his visual show. The conspicuous perch and sound together aim to attract passing females.
• Each wing bears a specialised feather that carries at least seven ridges along its central vane, paired with a neighbouring feather that has a stiff, curved tip. When the bird raises its wings over its back it shakes them back and forth at a rate of about 100 times per second. The tip strikes each ridge twice per shake, producing fourteen distinct sounds from one wing each motion.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Club-winged Manakin

In the dense, emerald undergrowth of the Andean cloud forest, the Club-winged Manakin dances with abandon, its iridescent feathers glimmering like shards of stained glass as it flits between the mist-shrouded trees. With each step, its peculiar, club-like wings vibrate at an astonishing 100 times per second, generating a low, humming melody that echoes through the forest, a siren's call to potential mates. As it moves, its diminutive form belies a bold and charismatic presence, a true marvel of evolutionary innovation in this lush, vibrant world.

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