• picture
  • picture
  • picture
  • picture
Public Radio's Environmental News Magazine (follow us on Google News)

BirdNote: Birds of Paradise

Air Date: Week of

Birds of Paradise are distinct for their bright colorations and extravagant feathering. Their flashy appearances are a result of sexual selection. (Photo: Mark A Harper)

Some birds are downright gorgeous, and as BirdNote’s Mary McCann explains, few are quite as beautiful and exotic as New Guinea’s Birds of Paradise.



Transcript

[MUSIC: BIRDNOTE® THEME]

CURWOOD: If you like the beautiful and photogenic, today’s BirdNote® is for you. Mary McCann takes us to the tropical Pacific to meet one of its most exotic, and colorful natives.

[AMBIENT NEW GUINEA FOREST AND RAGGIANA BIRD OF PARADISE CROWING AT LEK]

It is early morning on the island of New Guinea, as the lowland forests erupt with the crowing calls of male Raggiana Birds of Paradise.

[RAGGIANA BIRD OF PARADISE]

Groups of male Raggiana Birds of Paradise perform elaborate displays to attract females. The size of small crows, the males have a yellow head, bright green throat, and a lush mass of fine, russet-orange plumes that hang well beyond their tails. In a sequence known as “the flower display,” the males hang upside down with their wings flexed downward, while flaunting the lustrous russet plumes upward.

[RAGGIANA BIRD OF PARADISE]

“Birds of Paradise”— an aptly exotic name for this most varied and extravagantly decorated group of birds. All forty-three species are found on New Guinea, or nearby.

Picture one named the Ribbon-tailed Astrapia as it flies along the forest edge.


All 43 species of Birds of Paradise are found on the island of New Guinea. Their elaborate feather formations can sometimes make flight difficult. (Photo: Jerry Oldenettel)

[RIBBON-TAILED ASTRAPIA]

With an emerald-green head and velvety black body, the Astrapia trails two slender, white tail-plumes a full three feet behind its body. They undulate like fine ribbons in the breeze.

I’m Mary McCann.
###
Written by Bob Sundstrom
Calls of the birds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Raggiana Bird of Paradise and Ribbon-tailed Astrapia recorded by Eleanor Brown.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© Tune In to Nature.org November 2017 Narrator: Mary McCann
https://www.birdnote.org/show/birds-paradise

CURWOOD: And for pictures, bask in our website, LOE.org.

 

Links

The “Birds of Paradise” story on the BirdNote® website

About the Ribbon-tailed Astrapia from the Cornell Lab of Ornthology

Birds of Paradise Project, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

 

Living on Earth wants to hear from you!

Living on Earth
62 Calef Highway, Suite 212
Lee, NH 03861
Telephone: 617-287-4121
E-mail: comments@loe.org

Newsletter [Click here]

Donate to Living on Earth!
Living on Earth is an independent media program and relies entirely on contributions from listeners and institutions supporting public service. Please donate now to preserve an independent environmental voice.

Newsletter
Living on Earth offers a weekly delivery of the show's rundown to your mailbox. Sign up for our newsletter today!

Sailors For The Sea: Be the change you want to sea.

Creating positive outcomes for future generations.

Innovating to make the world a better, more sustainable place to live. Listen to the race to 9 billion

The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment: Committed to protecting and improving the health of the global environment.

Contribute to Living on Earth and receive, as our gift to you, an archival print of one of Mark Seth Lender's extraordinary wildlife photographs. Follow the link to see Mark's current collection of photographs.

Buy a signed copy of Mark Seth Lender's book Smeagull the Seagull & support Living on Earth