NOTES ON THE NESTLING BIOLOGY OF THE GOLDEN-WINGED MANAKIN (MASIUS CHRYSOPTERUS)

Abstract

A complete nesting information is available for 7.8% of the Manakin species; however, most of this information is fragmented and available mainly for lowland species. Hence, nesting information for highland species is scattered. Our study presents nesting information on a cloud forest Manakin species, the Golden-winged Manakin (Masius chrysopterus), which is distributed from western Colombia to northern Peru between 1000 and 2300m. We monitored 10 nests, from February through July in 2014 and 2015 at Parque Nacional Natural Tatamá, Colombia. We describe the nest, egg, and nestling, and provide information on incubation behavior and nestling feeding. The cup nest was similar to those found in most manakins. Eggs were creamy with brown spots concentrated at the base and measured 8.70± 0.89mm x 13.30 ± 0.39mm. The nestling growth rate (K) was 0.38. The incubation and nestling period were 22 and 16 days, respectively. The female conducted 70 off-bout trips day-1 that lasted on average 8.24 ± 5.44min, with 78% nest attentiveness. This study provides the most complete nesting data for a cloud forest manakin. Overall, M. chrysopterus incubation and nestling period are longer when compared to other manakin species. But the nest structure and composition, and eggs coloration concurred with other species.