Blue bird of paradise
| Blue bird of paradise | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Blue Bird of Paradise ( Paradisaea rudolphi ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Paradisaea rudolphi | ||||||||||||
| ( Finsch & Meyer , 1885) |
The blue bird-of-paradise ( Paradisaea Rudolphi , Syn. : Parasidornis Rudolphi ) is a bird art of the genus of authentics Paradiesvögel ( Paradisaea ) from the family of Paradiesvögel (Paradisaeidae) exclusively in a small area in Papua New Guinea occurs, where they colonize only altitudes . Although the range is small, two subspecies are distinguished. The adult males, which have bright blue wings and silk-like elongated flank feathers, are considered to be one of the most beautiful species within the family of birds of paradise.
The blue bird of paradise is often classified as a species of the genus Paradisaea , but sometimes also placed in the independent genus Parasidornis , of which it is the only representative.
description
Body type and measurements
The blue bird of paradise is one of the medium-sized birds of paradise with a body length of up to 30 centimeters. Including the greatly extended middle pair of control springs, the males even reach a length of 67 centimeters. The rest of the tail plumage measures 7.6 to 9.1 centimeters, so that the middle pair of control feathers, which is 34 to 45.2 centimeters long, clearly towers above it. The female, which is the same size as the male with an average body length of 30 centimeters, has tail plumage between 9 and 10.1 centimeters in length. The middle pair of control feathers is not elongated, but corresponds in length to the rest of the tail plumage.
The beak of the males is 3.9 to 4.2 centimeters long, in the females the beak is almost the same length with 3.6 to 4.1 centimeters. Males weigh an average of 178 grams. For females, the weight is so far only available for one individual who weighed 157 grams.
male
In the male, the head, neck and coat are glossy velvet black with a greenish tinge. Only the back part of the head and the neck also shine magenta in certain light conditions. The eyes are strongly emphasized because they are framed by two crescent-shaped arches of silver-colored feathers. The back and the Bärbel are black, with a blue-green shimmer on the upper back and a blue to indigo-colored shimmer on the rest of the back and the rump. The upper tail-coverts are blackish with a cobalt blue sheen. The wings and the top of the tail plumage are Prussian blue to cobalt blue.
The middle pair of control feathers is greatly elongated in males. The outer flags of these extended control springs are black-blue, the ends of the springs are widened in the shape of a spade and have an intense blue sheen in certain lighting conditions. The front breast is matt black and has only a slight shimmer of cobalt blue. The shimmer increases in intensity on the lower breast. The belly is velvet black, the thighs and the under tail-coverts are black-brown. The flank springs are greatly elongated. They are rust-colored on the upper side, but predominantly blue on the lower side. On both sides of the flanks, however, there is also a dark red spot and a black spot on top of it.
The beak is chalky white-blue, the iris is brown, the legs and feet are gray-purple. The inside of the beak is yellow.
female
In the females, the head and the top of the body are feathered similar to the male. The black parts of the body are more matt and rather very dark black-brown. The iridescent shimmer of the plumage is largely absent. On the other hand, on the underside of the body, they differ significantly from the plumage of the male. The plumage changes into a dark cinnamon color on the chest, only the thighs are black-brown. In some individuals there is also a diffuse black transverse banding on the middle of the abdomen. In all individuals, however, the rump is cross-banded. The banding is more pronounced in young females in particular. The tail plumage is colored similar to that of the males. However, the blue is not as intense and has a more pronounced shade of gray.
Fledglings
Nestlings that have just flown out still have a blackish beak with a white tip and a yellow beak inside. The crescent-shaped sickles that encompass the eye are already given with them. The body plumage is still matt soot black on the upper side, the underside is reddish brown. The wing covers and the arm wings are dull blue.
Young birds then initially resemble the adult female. Young males then increasingly show individual feathers of the male plumage. With increasing age, males that are not yet sexually mature show the greatly elongated middle control spring pair.
Distribution area and habitat
The blue bird of paradise occurs exclusively in the eastern and central highlands of Papua New Guinea. The western limit of distribution runs in the province of Eng roughly along the Hagen Mountains to the region around the city of Tari in the south of the highlands. It occurs at altitudes between 1100 and 2000 meters, with the main distribution area between 1400 and 1800 meters. The blue bird of paradise is generally a rather rare bird, it is very rare on everything on the northern slopes in the southeast of Papua New Guinea.
The habitat are mountain forests, forest edges and abandoned gardens that have higher secondary vegetation. According to previous studies, the blue bird of paradise also occurs in forest areas with logging if either the secondary forest is at least 25 years old or remains of the primary forest are present.
Way of life
While females and young males can occasionally be observed in small groups, the adult males are solitary. The females are occasionally associated with other species of birds of paradise. At least one male, however, was observed courting near a courtship area for the blue- naped bird of paradise and resting a few centimes from a female of this species during the night. Both a male and a female were observed in a flock of Carola's birds of paradise .
Blue birds of paradise live mainly in the upper and middle tree regions. Females tend to be found in the middle tree regions. While foraging for food, they occasionally come down to a meter or two above the ground.
food
The food of the blue paradise bird mainly consists of fruits, but they also eat insects and other invertebrates, which they peck from leaves and tree branches.
Among the most commonly eaten fruits are of Trema orientalis , Strahlenaralien by various pepper and Planchonella TYPES and various wild banana . As with many species of magnificent birds, wild figs also play a larger role in meeting the nutritional needs. It is considered possible that blue birds of paradise take on a special role of spreading the diaspores of some ray azalia (so-called ornithochory ). Fruit-bearing trees of this species are aggressively defended by blue birds of paradise. A female was observed to drive away the blue-naped bird of paradise as well as magnificent birds of paradise and sickle -tailed birds of paradise from fruit-bearing trees of this species. She stayed near the tree even after she had met her food needs. Thane K. Pratt suspects that she did this in order to discover and drive away potential food competitors in good time. In contrast, blue birds of paradise have been observed in other fruit-bearing trees in the company of conspecifics as well as several Carola birds of paradise and sickle-tailed birds of paradise.
Invertebrates are of secondary importance in meeting the nutritional needs. In five individuals whose stomach contents were examined, the proportion of invertebrates was between 0 and 30 percent. From observations and faecal samples it is concluded that on average only 15 percent of the food requirement is covered by invertebrates. Occasionally blue birds of paradise can be seen searching tree bark and creeper lianas for them. They also search moss-covered branches for insects with their beak. The food spectrum includes cockroaches and grasshoppers, which they find on such branches. They also eat ants, spiders, crickets and occasionally wasps.
It has not yet been conclusively investigated how blue birds of paradise meet their fluid needs. A single male was seen drinking from the pool of water in the center of the leaf crown of a tree fern.
Reproduction
Mating behavior
Like many birds of paradise, this species is polygynous , that is, the male tries to mate with as many females as possible. After mating, the partners do not enter into a marriage-like community, but the female builds the nest alone and raises the offspring alone.
Courtship area
In contrast to the closely related actual birds of paradise , the male of the blue bird of paradise does not have a communal court, but the male defends its own courtship area. The males first call out from an exposed stand guard in the early morning hours to attract females. However, the actual courtship usually takes place at a height of one to three meters above the ground. Similar to the actual birds of paradise, the male removes leaves in the immediate area of the courtship waiting area. Up to four females have been observed near this courtship area. The males usually court between 6 and 9:30 in the morning, more rarely until noon, and occasionally also court in the afternoon.
Courtship
If females gather near the courtship area, the male swings backwards on its branch until it hangs upside down and spreads its blue flank feathers. The head is turned to one side, the beak is either parallel to the branch or points to one of the females present. The extended control spring pair points vertically upwards. The flank springs are kept in motion by small peeping movements so that it moves in waves. The rhythmic fluffing of the black, red centered throat pouch creates a humming, vibrating sound.
An interested female then sits down directly over the upside-down male. At this high point of the courtship, the male draws his legs, which have been outstretched up until then, and points directly to his belly with his head and beak. The female is presented with the black belly spot, which is framed by the blue flank feathers. It occasionally happens that the females sit on a branch next to the upside-down male. The male then moves sideways by taking small sideways steps until he is hanging directly below the female.
If the female does not lose interest and flies away or - which also happens more often - the male interrupts his courtship, mating then follows. To do this, the male swings head first back onto the branch with the help of his strong legs and claws. The female then turns away from the male and signals her readiness to mate by moving her tail plumage.
Nest, clutch and rearing of the young birds
The female builds a shallow shell nest. The nests found so far were 4, 9, 19 and 21 meters above the ground. The nest is built from strips of screw tree leaves, parts of creepers, orchid stems and the fibers of palm trees.
The clutch consists of a single egg; clutches that include two eggs are very rare. The eggs have a pale salmon-colored basic color and the elongated spots on, as they are typical for species of the subfamily of the actual birds of paradise. The female incubates the clutch alone, the incubation period is at least 18 days. Very little is known about the rearing of nestlings in the wild. A female who looked after an almost fully fledged nestling fed him mostly fruit, which she choked up on the edge of the nest. However, she also fed the nestling a strangled, small lizard and a cricket.
Danger
Like many species, the blue bird of paradise is threatened by habitat loss. In particular, clearing large forest areas or converting them into agriculturally used areas creates a danger for the already small populations of the species. The clearing in the distribution area is increasing because the population is increasing there. Traditional land use with gardens and small agricultural areas does not necessarily have to lead to the disappearance of the blue bird of paradise in a habitat that has been reshaped by humans in this way. Blue birds of paradise do occur in small mosaic areas consisting of forest remnants and gardens.
The blue bird of paradise poses a significantly greater threat to the population through continued hunting. The feathers and hides of a number of birds of paradise have been processed into traditional head and body decorations by several indigenous tribes of Melanesia for a very long time. They play a special role with the peoples of New Guinea and here especially with the peoples who live in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. They are therefore an important commercial and prestige object.
The distribution area of the blue bird of paradise lies in the area in which several peoples use feathers from birds of paradise as part of ceremonial robes. The hunt is concentrated exclusively on the males because the females lack these decorative feathers. Before rifles were widespread in New Guinea, hunting was carried out exclusively with bows and arrows, limesticks and traps. Hunters often used the traditional leks - the courtship grounds where several males gather - to hunt the males with their ornamental plumage. When hunting, blunt arrows are preferred so as not to damage the plumage. A law in Papua New Guinea even only allows traditional hunting with a bow and arrow or slingshot. Traditional hunting does not necessarily reduce the population of the polygonal species: the oldest males, which have the most pronounced ornamental plumage, are usually hunted. Wherever they are missing, the females mate with the younger males. In the case of the blue bird of paradise, however, several factors mean that the species is apparently increasingly less able to compensate for the population losses:
- Both bellows and individual feathers are occasionally sold to tourists, although exporting them out of the country is illegal.
- The occasions on which ceremonial robes are worn has increased. Both Independence Day and Christmas are now occasions to wear these feather-adorned clothes or the feather-adorned headdress.
- Due to the increasing population density, there are more children who kill females on the nest with slings.
- There is no executive to ensure the enforcement of laws and regulations on hunting. In addition, these regulations are sometimes not understood by the indigenous peoples or they are incomprehensible to them, so that they have no influence on hunting and trading practices.
Overall, the IUCN defines the existing situation with VU (= vulnerable / endangered ). estimated. The total population is estimated at a maximum of 10,000 breeding pairs, but is probably much lower. The stabilizing effect of the population is that large parts of the distribution area of this species are not populated and, due to its inaccessibility, there is no foreseeable settlement.
hybrid
The tendency of birds of paradise to cross with other species in their family was already described by Anton Reichenow at the beginning of the 20th century and thus almost earlier than for any other bird family. Most of the hybrids that are discovered are males - deviating plumage features are more noticeable in them than in the more inconspicuously colored females. Bird hides of the males are also more frequently on the market because they play a major role as a bride price or commodity among the indigenous peoples of New Guinea. Deviating from this, a female has been scientifically described that arose from a cross between the blue-necked bird of paradise and the blue-necked bird of paradise .
Dedication names
_(14568883900).jpg)
The specific epithet rudolphi of the blue paradise bird ( Paradiesaea rudophi ), discovered by Carl Hunstein in 1884, honors the Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary . At the same time, his wife was honored in a similar way: the German name and the specific epithet of the Stephanie-Paradieselster , a type of paradise star , which also belongs to the birds of paradise , were awarded in honor of Stephanie of Belgium at the time of the first scientific description of the Crown Princess of Austria-Hungary .
literature
- Michael Apel, Katrin Glas, Gilla Simon (eds.): Natural and cultural history of the birds of paradise. Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-00-035219-5 .
- 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 .
- Mark Cocker, David Tipling: Birds and People. Jonathan Cape, London 2013, ISBN 978-0-224-08174-0 .
- Clifford B. Frith, Bruce M. Beehler : The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1998, ISBN 0-19-854853-2 .
- W. Grummt , H. Strehlow (Ed.): Zoo animal keeping birds. Verlag Harri Deutsch, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-8171-1636-2 .
- Colin Harrison, Alan Greensmith: Birds. Dorling Kindersly, London 2005, ISBN 3-8310-0785-3 .
- Eugene M McCarthy: Handbook of Avian Hybrids of the World. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2006, ISBN 0-19-518323-1 .
- Thane K. Pratt, Bruce M. Beehler: Birds of New Guinea. Princeton University Press, Princeton 2015, ISBN 978-0-691-09562-2 .
- Bryan Richard: Birds. Parragon, Bath, ISBN 1-4054-5506-3 .
Web links
- Avibase data set Blue bird of paradise ( Paradisaea rudolphi (Finsch & Meyer, 1885))
- Illustration
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Paradisaea rudolphi in the Internet Bird Collection
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d C. B. Frith, BM Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae. 1998, p. 489.
- ↑ Blue Bird-of-paradise (Paradisornis rudolphi). In: Handbook of the Birds of the World. accessed on September 5, 2017.
- ↑ a b c d C. B. Frith, BM Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae. 1998, p. 490.
- ^ A b C. B. Frith, BM Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae. 1998, p. 488.
- ↑ a b c d C. B. Frith, BM Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae. 1998, p. 491.
- ↑ CB Frith, BM Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae. 1998, p. 493.
- ^ A b C. B. Frith, BM Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae. 1998, p. 494.
- ↑ CB Frith, BM Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae. 1998, p. 495.
- ^ A b C. B. Frith, BM Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae. 1998, p. 496.
- ↑ a b c d e Paradisornis Rudolphi in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2011. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed October 10, 2017th
- ^ A b C. B. Frith, BM Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae. 1998, p. 27.
- ↑ CB Frith, BM Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae. 1998, p. 29.
- ↑ M. Apel et al.: Natural and cultural history of the birds of paradise. 2011, p. 57.
- ↑ M. Apel et al.: Natural and cultural history of the birds of paradise. 2011, p. 58.
- ^ E. McCarthy: Handbook of Avian Hybrids of the World. 2006, p. 228.
- ^ E. McCarthy: Handbook of Avian Hybrids of the World. 2006, p. 231.