The blue bird-of-paradise (''Paradisornis rudolphi'') is a beautiful, relatively large species of
bird-of-paradise
The birds-of-paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. The majority of species are found in eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and eastern Australia. The family has 44 species in 17 genera. The members of thi ...
. It is the only species in the genus ''Paradisornis'', but was previously included in the genus ''
Paradisaea
The genus ''Paradisaea'' consists of six species of birds-of-paradise (family Paradisaeidae). The genus is found on the island of New Guinea as well as the nearby islands groups of the Aru Islands, D'Entrecasteaux Islands and Raja Ampat Islands. ...
''.
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.
Taxonomy
The blue bird-of-paradise was
formally described in 1886 by the German naturalists
Otto Finsch
Friedrich Hermann Otto Finsch (8 August 1839, Warmbrunn – 31 January 1917, Braunschweig) was a German ethnographer, natural history, naturalist and colonial explorer. He is known for a two-volume monograph on the parrots of the world which earned ...
and
Adolf Bernhard Meyer
Adolf Bernhard Meyer (11 October 1840, Hamburg – 22 August 1911, Dresden) was a German anthropologist, ornithologist, entomologist, and Herpetology, herpetologist. He served for nearly thirty years as director of the Königlich Zoologisches und ...
. They placed the bird in a new genus ''Paradisornis'' and coined the
binomial name
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
''Paradisornis rudolphi''. The genus name ''Paradisornis '' combines the
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
''paradeisos'' meaning "paradise" with ''ornis'' meaning "bird". The specific epithet ''rudolphi'' was chosen to honour
Archduke Rudolf Franz Karl Joseph, the Crown-Prince of Austria. This species was formerly placed in the genus ''
Paradisaea
The genus ''Paradisaea'' consists of six species of birds-of-paradise (family Paradisaeidae). The genus is found on the island of New Guinea as well as the nearby islands groups of the Aru Islands, D'Entrecasteaux Islands and Raja Ampat Islands. ...
.
Two
subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
are recognised:
* ''P. r. margaritae'' (
Mayr
Mayr is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Andrea Mayr (born 1979), Austrian female long-distance runner
* Ernst Mayr (1904–2005), German American evolutionary biologist
* Georg Mayr (1564–1623), Bavarian Jesuit pri ...
&
Gilliard, 1951) – east central New Guinea
* ''P. r. rudolphi''
Finsch &
Meyer, AB, 1886 – southeast New Guinea
The blue bird-of-paradise is known to have
hybridized with
Lawes's parotia
Lawes's parotia (''Parotia lawesii''), is a medium-sized (up to 27 cm long) passerine of the bird-of-paradise family, Paradisaeidae. It is distributed and endemic to mountain forests of southeast and eastern Papua New Guinea. Occasionally, th ...
(''Parotia lawesii),'' which is called "
Schodde's bird-of-paradise", and also with the
Raggiana bird-of-paradise
The Raggiana bird-of-paradise (''Paradisaea raggiana''), also known as Count Raggi's bird-of-paradise, is a large bird in the bird-of-paradise family (biology), family Paradisaeidae.
It is distributed widely in southern and northeastern New Guin ...
(''Paradisaea raggiana).''
Description
Arguably one of the most fabulous of its family, the blue bird-of-paradise is among the larger birds-of-paradise, being around 30 cm, or a little over a foot in length (excluding the long tail wires), rivaling some of the ''
Paradisaea
The genus ''Paradisaea'' consists of six species of birds-of-paradise (family Paradisaeidae). The genus is found on the island of New Guinea as well as the nearby islands groups of the Aru Islands, D'Entrecasteaux Islands and Raja Ampat Islands. ...
'' and ''
Manucodia
Manucodes are birds-of-paradise in the genus ''Manucodia'', that are medium-sized with black-glossed purple and green plumages.
The members of this genus are distributed in the lowland forests of New Guinea and nearby islands. They are monogamo ...
'' species. Unlike the ''Paradisaea'' birds, the male is mostly glossy black overall with silver-white crescents surrounding the eyes (in both sexes). 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 most brilliant and distinctive feature present on the male are the fine, silky elongated flank plumes that are mainly a dull amber colour on the surface; below, they are a light blue, based by two dark crimson lines on each side of the lower belly. 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. They have purplish-grey legs and feet and greyer claws. The wires on the blue bird-of-paradise are 25 inches long.
Behaviour and ecology
Diet
The blue bird-of-paradise is mainly a
frugivorous
A frugivore is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance and ...
species, feeding on a good variety of
fruit
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...
s like
figs
The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of small tree in the flowering plant family Moraceae. Native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, it has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world ...
,
drupe
In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...
s,
berries
A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples are strawberries, raspb ...
, but animal prey is also present in the diet; it includes insects, but also likely takes some vertebrates like reptiles. They typically feed alone, though females and juveniles are more likely to feed in trees in association with other birds or other species. They are shown to search high in the canopy when seeking fruits, and apparently forage at lower altitudes when in search of their animal prey.
Breeding
![Überseemuseum Bremen 2009 022](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/%C3%9Cberseemuseum_Bremen_2009_022.JPG)
The male is
polygamous
Crimes
Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marriage, marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is ...
and performs a breathtaking courtship display. But unlike most other birds of paradise species, he performs
solitary
Solitary is the state of being alone or in solitude. The term may refer to:
* shortened form of solitary confinement
* Solitary animal, an animal that does not live with others in its species
* Solitary but social, a type of social organization in ...
on a preferably thin branch, while an attending female observes nearby. In the display, the male hangs from a branch upside down. 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. During this display, he continuously makes a soft, insect-like buzzing noise, mixed with a chittering or chattering noise to rope the female back in if she moves away.
The nesting and parental duties are covered only by the females; she builds her nest with stems, twigs, palm leaves, vines and other materials all by herself, usually in a flat cup-like shape. They mostly lay one egg, but two are less occasional, and the mother is very defensive of her brood. The eggs are described to be a
salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...
-type color, with the ends being ringed with flecks of cinnamon-rufous to tawny.
Status and conservation
Due to ongoing
habitat loss
Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...
, limited range, small population size and, in some areas, by
hunting for its highly prized plumes, the rare blue bird-of-paradise is classified as Near Threatened on the
IUCN Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...
of Threatened Species.
It is listed on Appendix II of
CITES
CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...
. Its population is thought to have a decreasing trend, estimated to be anywhere from 2,500 to 10 000 individuals.
Gallery
File:Blue Bird-of-paradise PNG 2.jpg, Perched male.
File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.AVES.1311 2 - Paradisaea rudolphi rudolphi (Finsch, 1885) - Paradisaeidae - bird skin specimen.jpeg, Ventral view of a nominate
Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list.
Political office
In the ...
female specimen. Note its lack of flank plumes and tail wires that the male sports.
File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.AVES.1311 1 - Paradisaea rudolphi rudolphi (Finsch, 1885) - Paradisaeidae - bird skin specimen.jpeg, Side view of a female specimen. The female, like the male, has blue wings and tail.
File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.AVES.141709 2 - Paradisaea rudolphi rudolphi (Finsch, 1885) - Paradisaeidae - bird skin specimen.jpeg, Male specimen.
File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.AVES.141709 1 - Paradisaea rudolphi rudolphi (Finsch, 1885) - Paradisaeidae - bird skin specimen.jpeg, Side view of a male specimen.
File:Ellis Rowan25.jpg, Illustration of two male blue birds-of-paradise.
File:Paradisaea rudolphi Museum de Genève.JPG, Male specimen in a perched position.
File:Rawpixel original lithographs by rawpixel-com 00042.jpg, Illustration of two male and a female, most likely an early conception of the species.
References
External links
* ARKive
images and movies of the Blue Bird-of-paradise ''(Paradisaea rudolphi)''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q668679
blue bird-of-paradise
The blue bird-of-paradise (''Paradisornis rudolphi'') 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 regard ...
Birds of Papua New Guinea
Birds described in 1885
blue bird-of-paradise
The blue bird-of-paradise (''Paradisornis rudolphi'') 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 regard ...
Endemic fauna of Papua New Guinea