Howdy, friends. I’m back from my break and want to extend my sincerest thanks to Uvular for his great work writing WPT headers in my absence. Check them out if you haven’t yet, they are worth a read.
This week’s bird came to my attention while watching a SciShow video about theories on the evolution of color vision in animals. You may also remember it from a segment in the BBC’s Planet Earth II, which focused on its absolutely bananas mating display. Still images don’t really do this bird justice, I will link that BBC video and another I found from our friends at the Cornell Ornithology lab at the bottom.
Wilson’s bird-of-paradise lives on two Indonesian islands, Waigeo and Batanta. It tends to prefer highland forest, at altitudes of around 300m (~1,000ft). It eats fruit as well as a variety of insects and arthropods. Wikipedia claims it was first photographed in 1996 during the filming for a David Attenborough nature special, but it didn’t have any citations and I wasn’t able to find that anywhere else, so lets call that a “maybe.”
This bird is famous for its exquisite coloration. Some of these colors come from pigments in the bird’s feathers, they absorb all colors except the one reflected back to us, which we see. Some are structural colors. This means that the bird’s skin or feathers are shaped in such a way that they manipulate light, reflecting the colors we perceive. In this case, while the flashes of yellow and red are the result of pigments, the bird’s striking blue feet and bare head are the result of structural color.
Wilson’s bird of paradise is also known for its extremely elaborate mating display. The male will make a little clearing on the forest floor, tossing leaves and other obstructions aside, and then dance and strut to attract a mate. It will extend iridescent green feathers around its throat into a disc and open it’s mouth, showing its neon green mouth and throat. Interested females will watch while perched on a nearby branch.
Wilson’s bird-of-paradise is listed as near-threatened by the IUCN. It has a small range and is assumed to have a small population. It appears to continue to live in forests which have recently been cut down for logging, and the fragmentation of its range does not appear to be severe at this time. However, little is known about this crazy colorful and yet somehow illusive bird. Be good to each other and yourselves.
Links: https://tinyurl.com/nhzfcknm,
Cornell video link (clearing space for display): https://tinyurl.com/3y6c9hs7
BBC Planet Earth Mating Display: https://tinyurl.com/3bcats9n
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