Sickle-tailed bird of paradise
| Sickle-tailed bird of paradise | ||||||||||||
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Depiction of sickle-tailed birds of paradise |
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| Diphyllodes magnificus | ||||||||||||
| ( JR Forster , 1781) |
The sickle- tailed bird of paradise ( Diphyllodes magnificus , Syn . : Cicinnurus magnificus ) is a species of bird from the genus cicinnurus within the family of birds of paradise (Paradisaeidae). It is one of the smaller species within the family. The sickle-tailed bird of paradise is mainly found in the mountain forests of New Guinea , where it occurs at altitudes of up to 1450 (rarely 1600) meters. The name is derived from the wire-like elongated and outwardly curved and sickle-shaped middle control spring pair .
The population of the sickle-tailed bird of paradise is classified by the IUCN as safe ( least concern ). There are three subspecies.
description
Body type and measurements
The sickle-tailed bird of paradise reaches a body length of 19 and including the tail plumage of 26 centimeters. The females, on the other hand, measure only 19 centimeters, with their tail plumage, apart from the middle pair of control feathers, being longer than that of the males. The beak has a length of 2.6 to 3.3 centimeters. The weight is 73 and 94 grams. This makes them very small birds of paradise. The males in the interior of the forest are also mainly noticed by their calls, the colorful plumage can hardly be seen in the interior of the forest.
male
The head and neck feathers are short and individually colored differently brown. On the vertex the feathers have darker tips, which makes the plumage look slightly scaled. The sides of the head and the ear covers are earth brown. A small spot on the reins shimmers intensely dark green and a velvet black semicircle surrounds the eyes. The neck feathers are elongated and end straight, they are sulfur-yellow in color and, with certain incidence of light, form intensely shimmering white highlights, so that they look like molten glass. On the sides of this neck crest there can also be individual olive-brown to red-brown feathers that have blackish feather tips.
The back plumage, which is only visible in the form of a semicircle under the elongated neck feathers, is dark carmine-red and has blackish tips. This plumage is so shiny that it is reminiscent of molten glass. The lower back and the rump are earth-brown to dark olive-colored to an individually different extent. this plumage also shines intensely. The upper tail coverts are dark brown with a matt dark green sheen. The small wing-coverts are olive-colored, the large wing-coverts and the arm and hand wings are dark brown with red-brown feather edges. The tail plumage is dark olive on the top. The middle pair of control springs has developed into two fine "sickles" that cross at the end of the normal tail plumage. These "sickles" only have extremely narrow outer flags that have a strong mineral shine. On the top the gloss is blue-green, on the bottom the gloss is olive.
The plumage on the throat and chin is soft and somewhat elongated. It is black-brown with a dark green intense shimmer. From the lower throat to the lower breast the plumage shimmers intensely dark green, the elongated feathers still cover the belly. In the middle of the body, a line of feathers spread like scales runs from the throat over the chest, which shimmers intensely turquoise-green ( cyan ). These feathers are very finely banded across in dark green. The feather tips on the outer edges of the breast plumage also show this color. With certain incidence of light, it can also shimmer cobalt blue. In certain light conditions, the entire breast plumage also forms magenta or deep purple highlights and can even appear velvety black in other light. The area from the belly to the lower tail covers is black-brown with a slight purple tinge.
The bill is chalky gray-blue, the inside of the beak is pale green. The iris is dark brown, the legs and feet are dark blue.
female
The females have a slightly larger body than the males. The head is olive-colored with a light earth-brown tint. Above the eye they are dotted and banded gray and white. The feathers of the vertex have darker feather tips, which makes the plumage appear slightly scaled at this point. They are olive brown from the coat to the upper tail covers. The chin is also olive in color, a streak of beard and the throat are dirty white with dark brown small spots. The rest of the underside of the body is pale red-brown to cinnamon-colored and has a uniform dark olive-brown transverse banding. The beak is a little darker than that of the males. As with these, the iris is dark brown and the legs and feet are dark blue.
Subadults
Young birds not yet sexually mature, so-called subadults, have plumage that corresponds to that of the females. Subadult males, however, already have individual feathers that correspond to the plumage of the adult males. A bird caught in the plumage of an adult female in August 1969 did not begin to show the plumage of an adult male until September 1975. So he was at least six years old at the time. Another crescent-tailed bird of paradise raised in captivity began to develop the crescent-shaped tail feathers of a male when he was three years old.
Distribution area, subspecies and habitat
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The sickle-tailed bird of paradise is widespread in New Guinea. The distribution area extends disjointly from the extreme west of the Vogelkop , a peninsula in western New Guinea to the eastern tip of this second largest island in the world after Greenland. However, it is missing in the southern lowlands of New Guinea. The sickle-tailed bird of paradise occurs outside of New Guinea on the two islands of Yapen and Salawati just off the coast of New Guinea . Yapen is an island in Cenderawasih Bay . Salawati is one of the four main islands of the Raja Ampat archipelago off the coast of western New Guinea .
A total of three subspecies are distinguished: ( JR Forster , 1781)
- Diphyllodes magnificus magnificus (JR Forster, 1781) , found on Swalawati and in the north-west of New Guinea (north and east of Vogelkop, Wandammen Peninsula, Onin Peninsula)
- Diphyllodes magnificus chrysopterus Elliot , 1873 . Occurrence on Yapen, in the west and in the central area from the new area to the watershed between Sepik and Wahgi as well as the Adelbert Mountains.
- Diphyllodes magnificus hunsteini A. B. Meyer , 1885 . Occurrence in the east and southeast of New Guinea. The area extends from the upper catchment area of the Fly River , the catchment area of the Waage River, to the Huon Peninsula .
The altitude distribution of the species ranges from hilly regions in the lowlands to altitudes of 1780 meters. However, it is more common below 1400 meters. The habitat are forests with a preference for mountain forests. It hardly occurs in the rainforests of the lowlands.
Way of life and food
The sickle-tailed bird of paradise lives mostly solitary . Flocks of birds in the plumage of adult females have also been observed in mixed flocks with other birds, including honey-eaters and nectar birds . It feeds on fruits , insects and spiders . According to current knowledge, they cover around 70 percent of their nutritional needs with fruits. Individuals have been observed holding fruit with their feet and tearing them apart with their beak. At the traditional courtship areas, where the males often stay, golden breasted pigeons and earth pigeons come to eat the fruit parts and seeds that the sickle-tailed birds of paradise have dropped.
Reproduction
Sickle-tailed birds of paradise are polygynous , which means that a male mates with several females whenever possible. The females raise the offspring alone.
Courtship area
Males show only on Balzplatz a territorial behavior . This courtship area, which can be several square meters in size, is carefully cleaned of foliage by them. Typical for a mating site are several tree saplings that are several meters high. The male often sits on the vertical, slender trunks and frees these saplings from any foliage. He moves up and down these trunks so often that they are regularly very smooth. The individual mating grounds, some of which exist for several years, are not far from each other. The distance is between 170 and 280 meters. Two observed males even had two courtship areas each, which were 60 and 70 meters apart. The courtship areas have been compared on various occasions with the carefully tended courtship areas of some bower birds .
Courtship
The males show different courtship behavior, but they all take place around the smooth-stemmed saplings that have been freed from the foliage. The most common courtship is behavior in which the males fan out their chest plumage at regular, almost pulsating intervals. The feathers on the sides of the chest extend almost to the sides of the head. The males sit in waiting no higher than 30 centimeters above the ground or stand on the ground. They show this form of courtship even when no female is around.
As an alternative to this behavior, they cling to one of the vertical trunks of the saplings in their courtship area and display a similar, pulsating fanning of their breast plumage. This behavior usually follows a cleaning of their courtship area. Occasionally, however, they also show behavior in which they strongly roughen the neck plumage. The ruffling of the neck plumage is also one of the reactions when a female approaches the courtship area. There is also behavior in which both the neck and chest plumage are ruffled. Another form of courtship is shown after mating with a female. Here, too, they cling to one of the vertical sapling trunks, the chest and neck plumage are ruffled, the tail plumage including the sickle-shaped control feathers point steeply upwards. The beak is open, shows the strikingly colored inside and points in the direction of the female.
Nest and clutch
Only a few nests have been found so far. These were located at a height of between 3.6 and 4.3 meters in screw trees or in the creeping thicket. One of the nests was made of green moss and animal fur and the nest bowl was lined with small plant fibers. A second nest consisted of moss, dry leaves, some parts of plants.
The clutch usually consists of two eggs. These have a pinkish whitish with the elongated spots typical of the actual birds of paradise in purple to dark gray. The eggs are only incubated by the female. This begins with the hatching business after the first egg is deposited. In captivity bred sickle-tailed birds of paradise, the breeding season was between 18 and 19 days. The nestlings stayed in the nest until they were 17 or 18 days old. From their 38th day of life they were independent of the female.
Hybrids with other birds of paradise
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.
In the sickle-tailed bird of paradise there are natural hybrids with other species of the genus Cicinnurus as well as with other birds of paradise. The most common crosses are those with the King's Bird of Paradise , which belongs to the genus Cicinnurus . As early as 1927, the French zoologist Jacques Berlioz described a hybrid between the king's bird of paradise and the willow-tailed bird of paradise. By 2006, a total of 26 males were known that had emerged from such crosses. Females from such crosses look so similar to the female parent bird that it cannot be seen from their external appearance that they have parent birds of two different species. In addition, crosses with the bird of paradise were found. The three males that resulted from a cross between these two species were first scientifically described as the Lamprothorax Wilhelmine . In contrast, there is only one bird hide in the scientific collections that suggests a cross between the sickle-tailed bird of paradise and the little bird of paradise .
attitude
Sickle-tailed birds of paradise are occasionally shown in zoological gardens. The successful offspring came in 1984 in the Baiyer River Sanctuary , Papua New Guinea. There were also offspring in 1994 at the Honolulu Zoo, where the nestlings, however, have to be raised by hand.
In principle, sickle-tailed birds of paradise adapt well to keeping an aviary. You need a large, warm aviary, but it doesn't have to be high. They also need access to a water basin and / or sprinkler to meet their bathing needs. They have already been successfully kept in an aviary with the bird of paradise .
literature
- 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 .
- Thane Pratt & Bruce M Behhler. (2015): Birds of New Guinea. Princeton University Press, Princeton & Oxford, 2nd Edition, ISBN 978-0-691-09563-9 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Frith & Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae . P. 390.
- ^ Thane Pratt & Bruce M Behhler. (2015): Birds of New Guinea. Princeton University Press, Princeton & Oxford, 2nd Edition, ISBN 978-0-691-09563-9 , p. 236
- ↑ a b Handbook of the Birds of the World on the sickle-tailed bird of paradise , accessed on July 15, 2017
- ↑ a b c d e Frith & Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae . P. 392.
- ↑ Frith & Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae . P. 393.
- ↑ Frith & Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae . P. 391.
- ↑ a b Thane & Beehler (2015), p. 484
- ↑ Frith & Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae . P. 394.
- ↑ a b Frith & Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae . P. 395.
- ↑ a b c Frith & Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae . P. 396.
- ↑ Frith & Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae . P. 397.
- ↑ Frith & Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae . P. 398.
- ↑ Frith & Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae . P. 399.
- ↑ Frith & Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae . P. 400.
- ^ McCarthy: Handbook of Avian Hybrids of the World . P. 228.
- ↑ a b c McCarthy: Handbook of Avian Hybrids of the World . P. 229.
- ↑ Frith & Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae . P. 401.