How animals perceive the world varies considerably within a diverse spectrum of behaviors and environments. Over evolutionary time, survival strategies of a lineage change, necessitating sensory perception to fine tune to new niches. Manakins, a group of Neotropical birds (suboscines: Pipridae), have undergone major shifts in both diet and sexual selection complexity in a relatively short evolutionary time frame. Manakins are broadly separated into two clades separated by 16 million years of divergence. One clade is insectivorous and males exhibit rudimentary courtship displays, while another more diverse clade is primarily frugivorous and males conduct elaborate athletic courtship displays. Using full genome sequences from representatives within both clades, we investigate how genes involved in visual perception have changed with respect to these different lifestyles. For the opsin gene family, we find that melanopsin (OPN4M), involved in the pupil’s reflex in response to light, shows positive selection in the lineage leading to all manakins. We also find that the shortwave sensitive 1 opsin (SWS1) shows positive selection in the lineage leading to frugivorous manakins with elaborate displays. SWS1 is involved in absorption of violet and ultraviolet pigment, suggesting that perception of these colors may be important for fruit detection or courtship perception. We identify sites in SWS1 experiencing positive selection, including a shift from valine to isoleucine at position 158 in frugivorous manakins, however we do not detect positive selection at any previously characterized SWS1 spectral tuning residues. We suggest that future studies investigating SWS1 wavelength absorption consider novel spectral tuning candidates and that spectral tuning sites in SWS1 may be more diverse than currently characterized.