Red-capped manakin

The central-American bird Pipra mentalis has a particularly elaborate and humorous mating display. The clapping of wings mentioned here creates a sharp snapping noise. And then there's the moon walk ...

See and hear the wing snapping here.

"Manakins have weird, pretty extreme behavior," says Bostwick, an evolutionary ornithologist who makes a memorable appearance in the first episode of NATURE's DEEP JUNGLE. "They are very, very interesting birds."

While many birds have evolved wings that enable them to fly long distances or dodge predators, Bostwick says male manakins have evolved "really weird wings" that serve another purpose: "They want to blow a female's mind. That's the most important thing."

- PBS's Nature