Club-winged Manakin

Overview

The club-winged manakin (Machaeropterus deliciosus) is a small bird species in the family Pipridae, classified as a species of Least Concern by the IUCN. It is a year-round resident found on the western slope of the Andes in Colombia and Ecuador.

Identification

• Approximately 9.5 to 10 cm in length with a weight of around 12 g.
• Males possess a scarlet forehead and crown with a dusky eye stripe, while the rest of the head and body are chestnut-brown, becoming darker on the belly and blackish on the rump.
• Males have black scapulars and tail, with black wings featuring significant white on the flight feathers; females are olive with a cinnamon tinge on the face and a pale yellow belly.
• Both sexes have dark brown irises, a black bill, and usually grayish pink legs.

Habitat

Found on the western slope of the Andes from Risaralda Department in west-central Colombia south to Pichincha Province in Ecuador, with small populations in El Oro and Loja. The species inhabits wet montane forest in the subtropical zone and mature secondary woodland. Elevations range from 400 to 1,800 m in Colombia and mostly between 600 and 1,600 m in Ecuador.

Diet

Feeds on small fruits and insects, taking them from leaves and twigs with short sallies from a perch. The bird occasionally joins mixed-species feeding flocks.

Did you know?

Males produce mechanical sounds by shaking highly modified secondary wing feathers over 100 times a second, creating approximately 1,400 single sounds per second. To withstand this rapid beating, the bird has evolved solid wing bones, a trait also found in females despite them not using the mechanism for display.