Club-winged Manakin

Machaeropterus deliciosus

Vibrates its wings 100 times a second to produce a violin-like note. The only bird that sings with its feathers.

Habitat: Wet montane forest and mature secondary woodland on the subtropical Andean slope, roughly 400-1,800 m elevation
Fun fact: The male club-winged manakin produces its courtship sound mechanically rather than vocally, vibrating specialized wing feathers against a series of ridges over 100 times per second — a "spoon-and-washboard" mechanism so physically demanding it evolved solid (non-hollow) wing bones to withstand the impact.
Range: Western slope of the Andes in Colombia (Risaralda south) and Ecuador (to Pichincha, with small outlying populations in El Oro and Loja provinces)
Diet: Small fruits and insects, gleaned from leaves and twigs during short sallies from a perch
Size: 0.1 m

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