Magnificent bird-of-paradise
Magnificent bird-of-paradise | |
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Male | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Paradisaeidae |
Genus: | Diphyllodes |
Species: | D. magnificus
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Binomial name | |
Diphyllodes magnificus (Pennant, 1781)
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Synonyms | |
Cicinnurus magnificus |
The magnificent bird-of-paradise (Diphyllodes magnificus) is a species of bird-of-paradise. The magnificent bird-of-paradise is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. They are listed in Appendix II of CITES.
Etymology
The generic name Cicinnurus means "curled tail" and its specific name magnificus means magnificent or splendid. The species was formerly listed in the genus Diphyllodes, which means "Double leaf-like", referring to its "leaf-like" tail.
Taxonomy
The magnificent bird-of-paradise is included in the same genus as the King and Wilson's Birds-of-paradise, though it is more closely related to the latter. The genus Cicinnurus forms a clade with the genera Paradisaea and Paradisornis, and the other closest genus is Astrapia, though it is not included in the clade.
Three subspecies are recognised:[2]
- D. m. magnificus (Pennant, 1781) – Salawati (Raja Ampat Islands, northwest of New Guinea) and south Bird's Head Peninsula (northwest New Guinea)
- D. m. chrysopterus Elliot, DG, 1873 – Yapen (Geelvink Bay islands, northwest New Guinea) and west, central New Guinea
- D. m. hunsteini Meyer, AB, 1886 – east, southeast New Guinea
Distribution and habitat
This rather common species is widespread throughout a large range, in Indonesia, New Guinea and surrounding islands. It occurs in the tropical and subtropical montane and hill forest at altitudes of around 1500 m, though it can be found around 1780 m as well.[3]
Description
The magnificent bird-of-paradise has one of the most complex plumage arrangements in the family
It is
Behavior
These birds feed mainly on
When a female attends his court, he is usually on his display perch. Here is where he does his display; he leans backwards to the point where his body is perpendicular to the sapling, raises his mantle cape, to where it appears like a yellow halo behind his head, expands and flexes his iridescent breast shield, and waggles his sickle-shaped tail on each side. Though this performance is comical, it is often observed by many females nearby, who do not take the male mating with the core audience member too lightly. When the male is about to copulate with the core female, other females nearby will spring from their perches to attack and shoo off the female, and the male is discouraged and may have to wait a while to perform again.[4][5]
Typical of most of the bird-of-paradise family, the female takes up all parental duties, including nest-building, incubation, and chick-rearing. They lay one to two creamy yellow eggs, and incubation usually concludes within 19 days, and the chicks usually fledge in 18 days.[4]
Gallery
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Male
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Two males (Illustration by John Gould).
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Male underside, showing the iridescent green breast shield.
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Male upperside.
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Nominate female specimen at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center.
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Male (left) and female (right)
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Male specimen, race hunsteini, at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center. Note the iridescent scale-like feathers going down the breast shield.
External links
- iNatutalist
- eBird
- Oiseaux (in French)
Bibliography
- Beehler, B. M. (1983). Frugivory and polygamy in Birds of Paradise. The Auk 100: 1-12.
- Bruce M. Beehler, Thane K. Pratt: Birds of New Guinea. Distribution, Taxonomy, and Systematics. Princeton University Press, Princeton 2016, ISBN 978-0-691-16424-3.
- Clifford B. Frith, Bruce M. Beehler: The Birds of Paradise – Paradisaeidae. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1998, ISBN 0-19-854853-2.
- Eugene M McCarthy: Handbook of Avian Hybrids of the World. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2006, ISBN 0-19-518323-1.
- Frith, C. B. & Frith, D. W. (2009). Family Paradisaeidae (Birds of Paradise). In del Hoyo, J. Elliott, A. & Christie, D. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows. Volume 14. p. 404-459. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
- Gilliard, E. T. (1969). Birds of paradise and Bowerbirds. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, New York.
- Ottaviani, M. (2012). Les Oiseaux de Paradis – Histoire Naturelle et photographies, 320 pages. Éditions Prin, France.
- Thane Pratt & Bruce M Behhler. (2015): Birds of New Guinea. Princeton University Press, Princeton & Oxford, 2. Ausgabe, ISBN 978-0-691-09563-9.
References
- . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2023). "Crows, mudnesters, melampittas, Ifrit, birds-of-paradise". IOC World Bird List Version 13.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
- ^ a b c Animal Diversity Web
- ^ a b "Magnificent Bird-of-paradise (Cicinnurus magnificus)". www.hbw.com. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
- ^ Video of a courtship