Birds are also musicians. They can easily be divided into genres. The nightingales definitely play the classics, the parrots are into hip-hop, and the sparrows are ringing on every corner with their pop music. But among all genres, red-capped manakins are definitely punks, because they have challenged the very principles of bird song - they sing not with their voices, but with their wings! 
Wings up! You are under arrest for violating bird song rules!
But you can’t tell from their appearance that they are musical rebels. Variegated sparrows from the tropical forests of Colombia with a reddish-brown carcass and black and white wings do not arouse suspicion. The only thing they have that is catchy and rebellious is a scarlet spot on their forehead. But that's if you don't look closely. The wings are what the small bird has radically changed in its build. Each has two unusual feathers. The fan of one turned into a comb with seven hard branches, and in the second it curved into a long and hard tip. 
At the top are the very unusual feathers with which birds “sing.”
To understand how this unusual musical instrument works, remember how you played with a comb as a child. They ran their fingers over the teeth, and they grunted. Manakins do the same thing, only not for fun, but for procreation. 
The scheme that seduced thousands of chicks. Don't thank me.
The method is clearly borrowed from insects, and specifically it is a carbon copy of stridulation (insect chirping) of cicadas and grasshoppers. However, you will not hear any chirping. Manakins are so devoted to the music that they shake their wings at a frequency of 100 movements per second!
The vibrations are so lightning fast that they cannot be seen without slow motion. It looks as if the bird simply raises its wings and the sound arises by itself. At such a speed, the friction of two feathers against each other turns into a high-pitched squeak. If you don't know how the sound arises, it will be difficult to distinguish it from a standard bird call.
Your mouth singing is too corny!
Why did birds exchange their voices for a dubious musical instrument? Among vertebrates, no one uses the “ratchet” technique, and manakins themselves sacrificed hollow feathers for the sake of such a scheme, which makes it extremely difficult for a tiny bird to fly. Scientists have never found the answer.
Don't worry, we all shake on the first date!
The only logical explanation is sexual selection. Females simply like it when males use feathers to sing instead of vocal cords. Why? Why do we like blondes or brunettes? Blue or brown eyes? Just because it's beautiful! And the feeling of beauty is not alien even to such small birds!
This bird would be the best twerk dancer among birds!
Scientists have not been able to figure out how exactly the manakin manages to seduce the lady. But if romance is still a confidential matter, then family life is studied a little better. Musical informals arrange themselves modestly: a simple frame and a layer of moss are thrown over a fork of branches.
*lullaby from KiSh and Yegor Letov plays*
Remarkable musicians appear in an unremarkable nest. Their protest character is visible from the cradle. The chicks do not stay at home for long: they will get bored with maternal care before the end of the month. By this time they will already have feathered wings and will fly away to carry their special vision of birdsong to the jungle!
