From Opus
Alternative names: Wahne's Six-wired Bird-of-paradise; Huon Parotia; Wahne's Six-plumed Bird-of-paradise
- Parotia wahnesi
[edit] Identification
Male 43cm, female 36cm. A large Parotia with a long, wedg-shaped tail, often cocked slightly upward or to the side.
- Velvety jet-black plumage with iridescent sheen in various colours
- Distinctively large erectile coppery bronzed narial tuft over upper mandible
- Iridescent blue to pink-purple narrow nuchal bar
- Three elongated wire-like bare occipital plumes from behind each eye
- Breast-shield of intensely bronzed emerald green to green-yellow iridescent scale-like feathers
- Cobalt-blue eye with pale greenish-cream outer ring
- Shiny black bill
[edit] Female
- Smaller, lacks iridescence and head plumes
- Brownish-black head with off-white superciliary stripe and broad submoustachial stripe flecked blackish-grey, bordered below by narrow blackish malar stripe
- Brown upperparts
- Brown-cinnamon underparts barred brownish-black
- Brownish-black bill
Juveniles are undescribed, immature males are similar to females.
[edit] Distribution
Endemic to the Adelbert Range and Huon Peninsula in northeast Papua New Guinea.
A poorly known species. Population estimated at 2500 - 10'000 birds and declining as a result of increasing human population and habitat loss.
[edit] Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species.
[edit] Habitat
Middle montane forest. Occurs at 1100 - 1700m in Huon Peninsula and 1300 - 1600m in Adelbert Range.
[edit] Behaviour
Diet little known. Feeds on fruits and insects.
Breeding season at least from November to February. A polygynous species. The male attends a terrestrial court where it shows a complex display courtship involving a dance. It courts solitary but within auditory range of others. The female builds and attends the nest alone.
Lays 2 eggs in captivity, no information from the wild.
Presumably a resident species.
[edit] References
- Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2009. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 14: Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553507
[edit] External Links
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