Club-winged Manakin Machaeropterus deliciosus Scientific name definitions

The Club-winged Manakin is one of the more unique, and colorful manakins in South America. It is restricted to the Pacific slope of the Andes in western Colombia and western Ecuador. It is apparently closely related to the other members of the genus Machaeropterus, the Striped Manakin (Machaeropterus regulus) and the Fiery-capped Manakin (Machaeropterus pyrocephalus), although quite different in both plumage and display behavior from either. Club-winged is only one of the three found on the Pacific slope. Unlike either Striped or Fiery-capped, the male Club-winged Manakin has no streaking on the underparts, but is entirely dark maroon red with a scarlet red crown, black wings, modified, white-edged secondaries, and white underwing coverts. Females rather distinct for a female manakin, with mostly green plumage, but rufuous in the malar region, and white on the inner secondaries and underwing coverts. Also unlike the other members of the genus, Club-winged has an elaborate display by first flattening its wings, and then snapping them into an upright position with the tips almost touching. This wing movement coincides with a “mechanical” buzzy note. This display is very different from the bell-like call of Fiery-capped, or the two-note call of Striped, neither of which are associated with a wing display. Club-winged Manakin is mainly found in the mid-story of foothill forest.

9·5–10 cm; 1 female 12 g. Distinctive manakin, male with greatly modified secondaries. Male has scarlet forehead and crown, dusky eyestripe; rest of body mostly chestnut-brown , paler on head and throat , darker on belly , some white admixed on flanks  ; blackish rump and uppertail-coverts; scapulars, wings and tail black, wings with much white, especially on inner secondaries ; secondaries peculiarly modified  , progressively from outermost to S7, then decreasingly from S8 to S10, being thickened, twisted, and bent at tip, the most modified having hollow club-shaped end; iris dark brown; bill black; legs greyish-flesh, sometimes purplish. Female is olive above , face with cinnamon tinge, whitish throat, yellowish-olive breast and flanks, pale yellow belly. Juvenile resembles female.

W slope of Andes in SW Colombia (S from Risaralda) and W Ecuador (S to Pichincha, also in El Oro and W Loja).

Wet montane forest, especially where mossy, also mature secondary woodland. Mostly 600–1900 m, to 1600 m in Ecuador; locally lower in non-breeding season, down to 100 m in Ecuador.

Resident. Apparently seasonal altitudinal movements in Ecuador, descending to c. 100 m during non-breeding (dry) season.

Small berries and insects, plucked and taken from twigs and leaves in aerial sallies. Occasionally accompanies mixed-species flocks.

Male call at lek a high-pitched “seet” or “seet-seet” followed by up to 8 loud, strident “keah!” notes; during display a mechanical wing noise , “tip-tip-beeuwww” , final note with ringing quality, produced by vibration of hollow club-shaped tips of secondaries (1 Bostwick, K.S., Elias, D.O., Mason, A. and Montealegre-Z, F. (2010). Resonating feathers produce courtship song. Proc. Royal Soc. London (Ser. B Biol. Sci.). 277: 835–841. Close ).

Egg-laying in Mar–Aug in Colombia. Male displays solitarily , but often within hearing distance of others, on thin branch up to c. 7 m above ground, flutters wings rapidly downwards and then holds them raised high, producing mechanical sound described above. Nest a small cup of vegetable fibres, covered on outside with moss, slung in horizontal fork of shrub at 0·5–1·2 m above ground. Clutch 2 eggs; incubation and fledging periods not recorded.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Restricted-range species: present in Chocó EBA. Uncommon to fairly common but local, or very local, within relatively small range; occurs in Río Ñambí and La Planada Nature Reserves (Colombia). Has possibly extended its range in Ecuador; recorded since 1988 in El Oro (Buenaventura), where apparently absent previously. Dependent on conservation of adequate forest at upper tropical and subtropical levels.