Alternative name: Helena's Parotia
- Parotia helenae
Identification
Male 27cm, female 25cm. A broad-winged and short-tailed Parotia.
Male
- Velvety jet-black plumage with iridescent sheen in various colours
- Erectile bronzed brown 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 metallic emerald green to greenish-yellow iridescent scale-like feathers
- Cobalt-blue eye with pale cream-yellow outer ring
- Shiny black bill
Female
- Smaller, lacks iridescence and head plumes
- Brownish-black head with paler submoustachial stripe and dark malar stripe
- Chestnut-brown upperparts
- Pale underparts with russet tone (less than Lawes's Parotia) regularly barred blackish
- Brownish-black bill
Juveniles are undescribed, immature males are similar to females.
Distribution
Endemic to a small area north of the watershed of peninsular southeast New Guinea, in extreme southeast possibly also south of watershed.
Common in parts of its small range.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species.
This species is not accepted by all lists and sometimes considered a subspecies of Lawes's Parotia (Parotia lawesii helenae)[1].
Habitat
Mountain forests. Occurs at 500 - 2300m, mainly at 1200 - 1900m.
Behaviour
Diet
Feeds mostly on fruits, takes also some animals (arthropods and skinks).
Breeding
Breeding season at least from June to January. A polygynous species. The male attends a terrestrial court where it shows a complex display courtship involving a dance. The female builds and attends the nest alone. However, some females return to the same male each year.
The nest is similar to a Manucode's nest, an open shallow structure made of fern tendrils and creeping-fern stems, placed 5 - 12m above the ground in the canopy. Lays 1 egg.
Presumably a resident species.
References
- Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
- 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
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Eastern Parotia. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 5 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Eastern_Parotia
