A Superb Bird of Paradise is here beginning to display his iridescent shield. His plumage is jet black with a bronze luster on the cape, and crown and breast-shield metallic green.and had at the sides and bottom long dead leaf stems as if they had fallen naturally. The roofing was cunningly composed of fresh green fern leaves and intermingling dry leaves in the usual forest proportions. Inside there was a thick lining of fine black rootlets on which the creamy spotted eggs showed plainly. Noun A genus of paradise-birds, related to Paradisea proper, but having very long, narrow, and spatuliform middle tail-feathers, and a high compressed beak. The blue bird-of-paradise was formally described in 1886 by the German naturalists Otto Finsch and Adolf Bernhard Meyer.
Augusta Victoria’s Bird of Paradise (Paradisaea apoda augustae-victoriae)—This bird, shown also on the cover of Natural History in full color, is among the most gorgeous of all the birds of paradise. A metallic patch of light green or dark blue feathers covered the lower throat. The blue bird-of-paradise is a beautiful, relatively large species of bird-of-paradise. It is the only species in the genus Paradisornis, but was previously included in the genus Paradisaea. It is often regarded as one of the most fabulous and extravagant of all birds of the world, with its glorified and fancy flank feathers present only in males and also their two long wires also only found in the males. We already know that the male blue bird-of-paradise is primarily solitary by nature.
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Mostly black, this bird of paradise has a bluish-white bill, dark grey legs, and a broken white eye-ring, and bright blue wings. The Blue Bird-of-paradise occurs in lower montane forest, mainly at 1,400-1,800 m, but occasionally from 1,100 to 2,000 m , especially female-plumaged birds. Although displaying males usually use patches of primary forest, they have also been reported singing in the highly populous Tari valley, in areas with little remaining primary forest (B. Beehler in litt. 2012).
Learn more about some other birds from our spotted eagle-owl facts and green rosella facts pages. Occurring on the island of Papua New Guinea, the range of this bird is limited to a few places. They are mainly found in the forests of the central mountain ranges of Papua New Guinea. However, they are not concentrated in one area of these mountain ranges. They are spread patchily in areas such as Mount Sisa, the Owen Stanley range, Mount Giluwe, and the McAdam National Park further south.
However, during mating, the male bird is not monogamous and has a reputation of being very promiscuous. The breeding season starts when the males start to display their unique courtship ritual. Perched upside down on a thin branch of a trees, male birds expand and contract their chest fanning out their violet-blue plumes and feathers. This display by males is not aimed at any particular female, but at any bird of the opposite gender that is in the vicinity. If the female bird is impressed with this display, the birds will mate.
I am particularly grateful to Mr. Leslie Barden for his photography of many of the illustrations; his work has ensured that the best possible results have been achieved. To Mr. David Bygott I owe the exquisite painting of the inverted display of Prince Rudolph’s Bird of Paradise , which adorns the cover. The blue bird-of-paradise is known to have hybridized with Lawes’s parotia , which is called “Schodde’s bird-of-paradise”, and also with the Raggiana bird-of-paradise .
An interesting point, to me, about this species was the altitude at which it ranged at different stations. At Meganuin, and at Keku, a station forty miles south of Meganum, not one of these birds was heard, until a height of more than two thousand feet was attained. Behind Finschhafen, one hundred and fifty miles or so south of Keku, I was surprised to hear one at five hundred feet, and others frequently below two thousand. The blue bird-of-paradise is often considered to be one of the most beautiful birds on the planet.
Contrary to the habits of most species of birds, the females were the more curious when investigations were to be made. Often a female would drop down quite close to me to have a good look, while the brightly colored male, if seen at all, would he flitting about high above. In addition to the birds of paradise, pittas, smallsized ground birds, were on my list of extra desirable specimens. Although they were not rare, they proved to be very adroit in their movements. Its throat was blue and had long points sticking out somewhat after the fashion of the present-day collars that I find New Yorkers wearing.
For more information on other birds, take a look at red bird-of-paradise facts and greater bird-of-paradise facts. The following additional species were recognized after the HBW-BirdLife December 2017 update. This single species added to the 114 listed above total 115 endemic bird species for Papua New Guinea.
Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, business days for international shipments. Illustration of two male and a female, most likely an early conception of the species. With regards to migration, the blue bird-of-paradise does not show any signs of doing so. Due to their threatened status, it would not be a good idea to have them as pets.
What would you call a baby blue bird-of-paradise?
The litter size of this species is usually one, but in rare cases, it can go up to two. The incubation period is around 18 days, with the mother being the sole carer for the young hatchling. Read on if you want to learn more about this beautiful avian creature.
- They typically feed alone, though females and juveniles are more likely to feed in trees in association with other birds or other species.
- A small brown appearing bird lit over my head and a moment later dropped at my feet.
- This bird’s beautiful blue plumage is enhanced to perfection by his equally beautiful dancing in his courtship display.
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These elegant features help the male create an illusion for his potential audience. The female, however, is more or less similar to the male; of course, she lacks the opulent flank plumes and tail wires present on the male, but she does sport bright blue wings and tail feathers like the male. Instead of having an all-black underside, she is chestnut-brown below with blackish barring. Her head and neck are more duller also, with only a faint reddish gloss present. From the point of view of an experienced bird collector, Meganum is not an ideal collecting point. Nowhere on the various trails round about can one find a level stretch of ground fifty yards long.
Baker’s Bower Bird —Adult male and young male of one of the new species discovered by Mr. Rollo H. Beck near Madang on the northern coast of New Guinea. Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. All structured data from the file namespace is available under the Creative Commons CC0 License; all unstructured text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy.
This particular species is often thought to be one of the most beautiful birds in the world. Due to ongoing habitat loss, this bird has a decreasing limited range with a small population size. They are also under threat from hunting for their highly prized plumes, thus blue birds-of-paradise are classed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. This bird’s beautiful blue plumage is enhanced to perfection by his equally beautiful dancing in his courtship display.
Unlike the Paradisaea birds, the male is mostly glossy black overall with silver-white crescents surrounding the eyes . They have a very crow-like bill that is whiteish to light greyish in colour. The back of the head has a reddish gloss that stretches down to the mantle, or back. A defining feature found in both sexes are the shiny, blue wings that are more commonly light blue but can range from light blue, aqua or even a skyish-baby blue; the tail is also like this. Stretching from the tail are two blackish and elongated wires with small, whitish spatulate tips similar Paradisaea males’ wires.
The nest of the bird is in the shape of a circular bowl and is usually ft (4-19 m) above the ground. The materials used for building the nest include palm leaf fibers, pandanus leaves, and casuarina needles. Young blue birds-of-paradise are called hatchlings, chicks, or juveniles. The following additional endemic species were recognized as distinct by the IOC since the IOC 10.1 checklist and were also not recognized in any of the other checklists listed above. Additional species recognized after the HBW-BirdLife December 2017 update or considered valid by other major checklists are listed at the bottom of the page. They repeatedly pulled off small bits of the dry bark, but just what they found underneath I could not determine.
The year 2022 saw the publication of versions 12.1 and 12.2 of the IOC World Bird List. Details of the changes that were consolidated into the IOC bird list during 2022 can be found on the IOC website under the menu heading Updates. One of the reasons why the term ‘bird-of-paradise’ is used for several species is due to their beautiful appearance and unique courtship displays that are very colorful. Male and female blue birds-of-paradise are referred to as a cock and hen, respectively.
Being distinctively different from other similar species, the male bird is richly decorated. They have bright blue wings and plumes with the overall appearance of the bird, including the head and the nape, being glossy black. Female birds of this species do not have this carmine red plumage on their head. But unlike most other birds of paradise species, he performs solitary on a preferably thin branch, while an attending female observes nearby. The black oval with red margin at the center of his chest is rhythmically enlarged and contracted. His violet blue plumes spread out in a fan, looking like an apron, swaying its body back and forth while the black wires form two impressive arches down to either side.
One bird that I kept hearing every half hour or so for several hours, changed his perch a dozen times during that period, but did not fly out of a half-mile radius from the original perch. The forest is the favoured residence for the The Blue Bird-of-paradise. The elevational zone is under pressure from clearance for subsistence gardens by the increasing human population. The second major threat is hunting of adult males for their pectoral and tail feathers .
In addition to the pointed collar, this bird sports a beautiful ruff of soft, velvety feathers, which it raises or lowers as occasion demands. Whether these three species live much above six thousand feet I did not determine, my trips to seven thousand and above being too few to form an opinion. It was disappointing to me to find no specimens of the blue bird of paradise, its range beginning about five thousand above sea level.
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