Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Both sexes give a thin, high-pitched tseet call while foraging (Prum and Johnson 1987).

Males most frequently give a frog-like nurrt call from a low perch near display sites (Prum and Johnson 1987, Ridgely and Greenfield 2001). Prum and Johnson (1987) suggest that nurrt calls serve primarily as sexual advertisements. Preliminary observations suggest that these calls also may be given as response to human disturbance near display logs (personal observations). The nurrt call is quiet and often is only audible to humans from within 50 m.

During log-approach displays, males usually give a long, whistling seeee-tseet-tseet call ending in a rapid nurrt as the bird touches down on the log (Prum and Johnson 1987). These log-approach display calls can be heard by humans from a distance of more than 100 m.

The male also gives a branch display call. This call begins with a long, descending, seee call that ends in either a log-approach display nurrt (most often when performing for a female) or a subtle wingbeat fluttering (Nicholas Oakley and Liam Taylor, personal observations). The branch display seee call has a softer tonal quality than that of the log-approach display. In the field, the branch display call best resembles a distant and aborted log-approach display call. Prum and Johnson (1987) never observed this call in more than 100 hours of observations of males at their display sites.

Additional audio recordings of vocalizations of Golden-winged Manakin can be heard at Macaulay Library and at xeno-canto.

Though the final log-approach display notes are sometimes described as mechanical "popping" sounds (e.g., Ridgely and Greenfield 2001), no acoustic or behavioral analysis has yet been performed to support this.