Music on the Wing

Most birds use their voices to sing their sweet songs. But the male club-winged manakin, a sparrow-sized bird from South America, plays a kind of musical instrument instead. To attract a mate, it raises its wings over its back and rubs them together, producing a loud, clear sound like a violin.

For years, puzzled scientists couldn't see how the rubbing wings made their music, because the manakin's wings move incredibly fast-more than 100 times a second. But recently, researchers solved the mystery by using a high-speed camera to videotape the manakiris wings, then watching the video played in slow motion. They discovered that each wing has two special feathers-one feather has ridges on its shaft, and a feather next to it is kinked or bent. The manakin makes its music by using its kinked feather to rake across the ridges of the neighboring feather-kind of like using a pick to strum a guitar.

The technique of making sound by scraping together limbs or wings is common in crickets and other insects, but this is the first time it has been documented in birds.

-Amy Tikkanen

Copyright Carus Publishing Company Jan 2006
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