site in the forest understory. The male “bocks” fairly
continuously, mixing the bocking with a series of dry but
loud tock, tock, tock notes. If successful in luring a female
to his territory, the male initiates a series of courtship
postures, performed from a horizontal branch upon
which the female perches as his only audience. These
postures include display of the beard wattles, a wing
display, and a display in which a bare patch of skin on
the male’s thigh is revealed. All bellbird species include
a jump display as part of courtship. A cock Bearded
Bellbird will leap from one perch to another, landing
before the hen with his body crouched, tail spread, and
eyes staring at her. You can guess what happens next,
assuming the male has performed satisfactorily.
Outstanding films of courting Bearded Bellbirds,
many taken at the Asa Wright Nature Centre in
Trinidad, are readily available on YouTube. Or you
could just go to Trinidad.
Manakins
There are 58 species in the manakin family (Pipridae),
a group of small, chunky fruit- eating birds, most of
which inhabit lowland forests. Manakins are endemic
to the Neotropics and should not be confused with
mannikins, an Old World group of birds of the
estrildid finch family. Neotropical manakins are
close evolutionary cousins of the cotingas and tyrant
flycatchers, and recent taxonomic analysis has suggested
that “manakins” of several genera (e.g., Schiffornis) are
not true manakins but are taxonomically somewhere
between cotingas, tyrant flycatchers, and manakins.
Manakins have short tails, rounded wings, and a
short but wide bill with a slightly hooked tip (plates
15- 69– 70). Males of most species are colorful; females
are drab, olive green and yellowish. Manakins pluck
small fruits (often from Miconia species) on the wing,
supplementing their largely frugivorous diets with
occasional arthropods. Manakins are polygamous; as
a result, only females build the nest, incubate, and feed
young. Clutch sizes are typically small, one to two birds
per nest.
Manakins, like cock- of- the- rocks, exhibit elaborate
courtship displays (described in chapter 10). Many
manakin species are “arena birds,” meaning they
court in concentrated areas called leks, assemblages of
males that display to interested females. Others court
in dispersed leks, while still others have a cooperative
courtship behavior in which several males display
together in an extraordinarily coordinated manner
virtually unknown in other bird families.Many Bugs, Many Bird Species
One key factor leading to the diversity and adaptive
radiation of some groups of Neotropical land birds
is that they are arthropod feeders, and arthropods,
particularly insects, are really diverse in the Neotropics.Plate 15- 70. The White- collared Manakin (Manacus candei)
is found mostly in Central America. This is a male. Photo by
James Adams.Plate 15- 69. The multicolored male Pin- tailed Manakin (Ilicura
militaris) is found in humid forests in southeastern Brazil.
Photo by Andrew Whittaker.
288 chapter 15 neotropical birds: the bustling crowd