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manakin

[man-uh-kin]

manakin, common name for stocky, tiny birds, most measuring less than 5 in. (12.5 cm) long, comprising 59 species in the family Pipridae. Manakins are found throughout the forested areas of Central and South America, where they feed on a diet of small fruits picked on the wing, and occasional insects. They are noted for their curiously modified wing feathers, with which the birds produce a series of whirring and snapping sounds during flight. The sexes differ markedly. The females of most of the species are inconspicuous olive green birds. Males are strikingly arrayed. Primarily greenish brown to black, they have brilliant patches of red, blue, and yellow, often with further ornamental modifications, such as the long central tail feathers of the Fandango birds, genus Chiroxiphia. In manakins, as in their relatives, the cotingas, male ornamentation is often coupled with elaborate mating displays. Among the Fandango birds, e.g., C. pareola, two or more males cooperate to perform a complex series of acrobatics in order to attract female onlookers. Gould's manakin, Manacus vitellinus, clears an area of the forest floor of litter between two saplings and performs a leaping dance, snapping his wings noisily and flitting from branch to branch. When he is joined by a female, mating occurs and the female flies off to lay her 2 pale brown, mottled eggs. The male is polygamous and mates with as many females as he attracts. The female weaves delicate hammock nests of grass, slung in ferns or saplings and typically overlying water. She is entirely responsible for incubation and care of the young. Manakins are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Aves, order Passeriformes, family Pipridae.

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Manakin

The manakins are a family, Pipridae, of some sixty small passerine bird species of the American tropics.

Description

They range in size from 7 to 15 cm and in weight from 8 to 30 g. The genus Tyranneutes comprise the smallest manakins, the genus Antilophia are believed to be the largest (since the Schiffornis genus are no longer considered manakins). They are compact stubby birds with short tails, broad and rounded wings, and big heads. The bill is short and has a wide gape. Females and first-year males have dull green plumage; most species are sexually dichromatic in their plumage, the males being mostly black with striking colours in patches, and in some species having long, decorative tail or crown feathers or erectile throat feathers. In some species, males from two to four years old have a distinctive subadult plumage.

The syrinx or "voicebox" is distinctive in manakins, setting them apart from the related families Cotingidae and Tyrannidae. Furthermore, it so variable within the group that genera and even species can be identified by the syrinx alone, unlike birds of most oscine families. The sounds made are whistles, trills, and buzzes.

Range, habitat, and feeding

Manakins occur from southern Mexico to northern Argentina, Paraguay, and southern Brazil, and on Trinidad and Tobago as well. They are highly arboreal and are almost exclusively forest and woodland birds. Most species live in humid tropical lowlands, with a few in dry forests, river forests, and the subtropical Andes. Some highland species have altitudinal migrations. Manakins feed in the understory on small fruit (but often remarkably large for the size of the bird) including berries, and to a lesser degree, insects. Since they take fruit in flight as other species "hawk" for insects, they are believed to have evolved from insect-eating birds. Females have big territories from which they do not necessarily exclude other birds of their species, instead feeding somewhat socially. Males spend much of their time together at courtship sites, as described below. Manakins sometimes join mixed feeding flocks.

Reproduction

Many manakin species have spectacular lekking courtship rituals, which are especially elaborate in the genera Pipra and Chiroxiphia. The members of the genera Machaeropterus and Manacus have heavily modified wing feathers, which they use to make buzzing and snapping sounds. Building of the nest (an open cup, generally low in vegetation), incubation for 18 to 21 days, and care of the young for 13 to 15 days are undertaken by the female alone, since most manakins do not form stable pairs. (The Helmeted Manakin does form pairs, but the male's contribution is limited to defending the territory.) The normal clutch is two eggs, which are buff or dull white marked with brown.

Lekking polygyny seems to have been a characteristic of the family's original ancestor, and the associated sexual selection led to an adaptive radiation in which relationships can be traced by similarities in displays. An evolutionary explanation connecting lekking to fruit-eating has been proposed.