Red-headed Manakin by jquental

Maybe it’s the song. Maybe it’s the male Red-headed Manakin. Maybe it’s both, but whatever it is this video gave me a good chuckle!

The Red-headed Manakin in the video is trying to impress the females with his special dance as part of a courtship display.

The footage used in the above video is from a Nature special that aired on PBS. In the episode, Kimberly Boswick talks about the manakin’s dance and also about her discovery of how the bird makes a unique sound with its wings.

I wrote about her discovery earlier in the year in an article called the Club-winged Manakin Has Feathers That Sing. In the article, you’ll find a more detailed explanation of how the bird makes this noise and another super slow motion video by Kimberly of the bird. Really neat!