Birds of paradise:

Simply magnificent

A unique species of animal that has always fascinated mankind with their ability to conquer the skies by flapping their wings, are the birds. With their diverse lifestyles, skills, colourful plumage, talons and beaks, our feathered friends have captured our interest and fired our imagination not merely to write poems, paint pictures or do documentaries on them, but also to invent machines that could fly, like them.

On a 1-10 scale, it's hard to decide as to which bird should be placed at what level of the scale since there are so many who are indeed awesome; the peacocks with their strikingly beautiful fan-like iridescent (colour changing) tails, the macaws with vibrantly hued feathers, the birds of prey, such as the falcon and eagle that spot their prey from miles away, even in water, and catch them with their powerful talons (claws), the Emperor Penguins that brave the harshest weather in the Antarctica or the toucans with their striking colourful beaks that are almost half the size of their bodies - the list is indeed endless. From the smallest of the birds, the bee hummingbird, to the largest, the ostrich, our feathered friends in the avian world have something to boast about. Even though the ostrich may not be able to fly or have a magnificent plumage like many of its avian family members, it can certainly be proud of being the record holder for the largest egg.

From among all these fascinating avian friends, we like to introduce you to a species of bird whose name speaks for its magnificence. They are none other than the birds of paradise. Why paradise? It is said that this particular species of bird came to be first known from specimens brought back by explorers from traders during their trading expeditions in the land the birds were found in. The native traders had apparently made decorations out of the dead birds by removing their wings and feet. The ancient explorers, who had not been aware of this fact, had believed that the birds never landed, but were kept aloft (on high) by their plumes. This led to the origin of both the name 'birds of paradise' and also the specific scientific name apoda which means without feet. Apart from this factor, it is also said that the spectacular appearance of these birds, especially the males, contributed to the bird's being so named.

The dazzling feathers of the male birds of paradise earned them their name because many natives were of the view that these birds could only have come from paradise with such stunning coloured plumes. In fact, these birds are best known today because of their plumage. Males of most species have highly elongated (lengthened) and elaborate feathers, extending from either the beak, wings or the head. These birds are distinguished as the world's most dramatic and attractive birds by their strikingly coloured plumage of yellow, blue, scarlet and green. Males often sport vibrantly coloured feathered ruffs or amazingly elongated feathers which are referred to as streamers or wires by naturalists. Some species of male birds even have enormous head plumes or other distinctive ornaments such as head fans or breast shields.

What is most spectacular is the ritualistic dance the males put on to attract a mate. Putting to good use their vibrantly coloured feathers and unusual ornaments, the males do elaborate dances for hours. These dances which are phenomenal (remarkable), vary from one species to another.

The magnificent bird of paradise which is rarely seen is said to be different to most other ordinary birds, in that, it has two loose elongated spiral wire-like elements extending beyond the rest of the tail feathers. The male birds which are only 19-26 cm have darkish green breasts and wings that are covered with shiny orange feathers. The feathers on the upper neck are shaped into a cape-like fan and are striped yellow. The females are about 19 cm in length and have an olive, light brown-black striped breast from her lower neck to her lower tail. The tail is not like that of the male's, and is very ordinary. Both male and female birds have bluish coloured beaks and feet and jet black eyes.

The male bird seems obsessed in cleaning the area it uses to display its ritualistic dance to attract a mate. It uses five different types of calls to attract the attention of female birds in the vicinity. And once a female enters the arena, it starts to display its dancing ritual which includes five different performances such as the breast display, horizontal display (or cape display), dancing display and back display. When performing the breast display, it inflates and deflates his breast-shield. This makes it look like an over muscular body builder with chest muscles projected on both sides of its ears. In the second display, the bird generally clings on to a vertical stem which is about a foot off the ground and shows off its cape. In the next stage it lowers the cape backwards whilst still clinging to a vertical stem, shows off his breast plate and also the mouth coloration before going to the following stage where it displays the bright coloration in the rear area and also clings to a horizontal tree while dancing.

Even the superb bird of paradise, which is a small bird with velvet black, metallic-like green iridescent plumage on the crown, erectile iridescent breast shield and a spreadable cape gives a 'superb' performance.

These spectacular birds which are members of the Paradisaeidae family and are so popular for their coloured plumage and also dance display, are crow-like in general appearance. They are the brother group to the Corvids - the crows and jays. They generally have stout or long bills, strong feet and range in size; the king bird of paradise at 15 cm and 50 grams to the black sicklebill at 110 cm and the curl-crested manucode at 430 grams.

These birds are found in eastern Indonesia, Torres Strait Islands, Papua New Guinea and eastern Australia. They live in tropical forests including rain forest, swamps and moss forest. The diet of most species is predominantly fruits, but some like the riflebirds and sicklebills also like insects and other arthropods.

Many species of this spectacular birds are listed as near threatened or threatened. Hunting for their plumes and habitat destruction been the main reason for those species being reduced to endangered status.

These beautiful birds have lent their name to a colourful flower, south Africa's bird of paradise (Strelitzia reginae) which is a member of the banana family. Look out for more details of this plant in the future issues.

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Different species :

There are about 43 species of birds of paradise in different genera (group). The manucodes are the most primitive of the group and include the Jobi manucode, Trumpet manucode Curl-crested manucode and the crinkle-collared manucode. In the Paradigalla genus there is the long-tailed and short-tailed paradigallas. The superb bird of paradise belongs to the Lophorina genus while the magnificent riflebird and Paradise riflebird belong to the Ptiloris genus. The famous Wilson's bird of paradise and magnificent bird of paradise both are from the Cincinurus genus. The sicklebills are from the Epimachus. The wired birds, such as the twelve-wired bird of paradise and the six-wired bird of paradise belong to the genus of Seleucidis, while the spectacular Reggiana bird of paradise, Red bird of paradise, Blue bird of paradise, Emperor bird of paradise and Goldie's bird of paradise all are in the genus, Paradise.

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Fact file:

* Birds of paradise plumes are often used in dresses and rituals by societies of New Guinea.

* The birds which were hunted extensively for the millinery (women's head gear) trade are under legal protection today. Hunting is permitted on a limited level to fulfil ceremonial needs of the local tribal population.

* It is said that when it was discovered that the bird of paradise plumes of the Nepali Royal Crown were in need of replacement due to the ban on hunting, the officials had no choice, but to get some feathers from a shipment of bird feathers confiscated by the US customs.

* The constellation Apus in the southern hemisphere represents a bird of paradise.

* The flag of Papua New Guinea depicts an adult-plumaged male bird of paradise.

* Wilson's bird of paradise which is near threatened has the controversial Latin name Cicinnurus respublica Bonaparte given by Napoleon Bonaparte's nephew - Lucien Bonaparte.

* They build their nests from soft materials such as leaves, ferns and vine tendrils typically placed in a tree fork.

* The clutch size is not known, but the eggs hatch after 16-22 days. The young leave the nest at between 16 and 30 days of age.

Facts and pix: Internet

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