Pennant bearer
| Pennant bearer | ||||||||||||
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Illustration of a pennant bearer ( Pteridophora alberti ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Pteridophora | ||||||||||||
| AB Meyer , 1894 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Pteridophora alberti | ||||||||||||
| AB Meyer, 1894 |
The pennant bearer ( Pteridophora alberti ), also called Albert bird of paradise or pennant bearer bird of paradise , is a species from the family of birds of paradise (Paradisaeidae). It is the only species in the monotypic genus Pteridophora . The pennant bearer is a comparatively small bird of paradise that is widespread in the mountain forests in central New Guinea and whose plumage clearly differs from that of other birds of paradise.
The species is classified as Least Concern (LC) by the IUCN .
description
male
Male pennant bearers reach a body length of about 22 cm and a body weight of 80 to 95 g. The head and top of the males are black, the underside is yellow-brown in color. The wings have large ocher spots. The legs are gray-brown, the beak black. The iris is dark brown.
The top of the body of the pennant wearer is velvet black. Detection and eponymous feature of this bird of paradise are the pennant -like structures on the 50 cm long head feathers . About 40 to 50 of these leaflets with a light blue upper and red-brown underside sit on one side and regularly on the shaft of the head feathers that are rooted behind the eyes. They arise from a tuff of slightly elongated feathers that are at the level of the ear covers . The neck feathers are also elongated, like the entire top of the body they can shimmer bronze-green with certain incidence of light. Other noticeable features include the large, isolated, scale-like feathers in the middle and on the lower edge of the otherwise black throat. With certain incidence of light, they shine iridescent from green-blue to purple. The rest of the underside of the body is dark yellow. The breast plumage is a little shinier, the rump and the under tail-coverts a little paler and more matt. The feathers on the flanks are cream-colored.
Subadult birds are initially pinnate like adult females. They then first develop plumage on the head that corresponds to that of the adult males.
female
The more plainly colored females reach a body length of 20 centimeters and weigh 68 to 88 g. Their upper side is grayish blackish-gray in color, the underside is cream-colored. The ash-gray feathers on the head and neck have fine black tips, so that this part of the body looks finely scaled. Behind each ear they have one and often even a second slightly elongated and pointed feather. The feathers of the wing-coverts have pale red-brown hems, while the wing feathers on the outside have narrow whitish hems. The chin and throat are gray-brown and a wide gray-brown transverse band on each feather, so that this part of the body is also flaky. The rest of the underside of the body is whitish from the breast to the rump with V-shaped black-brown spots. The thighs are pale fawn-brown and the under-tail-coverts are red-brown with also V-shaped black-brown spots.
voice
The pennant bearer has an unusual repertoire of calls for a bird of paradise. The courtship song is considered to be very difficult to describe and has been compared by some authors to the squeaking noise that a rusted iron door makes when it is opened; other authors have compared it to the sound that is produced when steam escapes. The sound reminded Jared Diamond of a badly tuned radio. The singing ends with a loud croak that can be heard over a mile away.
distribution and habitat
The pennant bearer is endemic to New Guinea . It is mainly found in the Weyland Range in western New Guinea and in an area in the south-east of the island ( Kraetkegebirge ). He lives there in mountain rainforests at an altitude of 1500 to 2750 m. It is most often found at altitudes between 1800 and 2500 meters. The pennant bearer does not need any untouched forests, he can also be found in slightly disturbed surroundings and at the edges of the forest.
Systematics
The plumage of both the male and the female differ significantly from that of other birds of paradise, which makes their classification within the bird of paradise family difficult. Basically, it has some similarities with the plumage of the ray bird of paradise and the collar bird of paradise . All of these species have a collar of slightly elongated neck-feathers and shiny metallic breast-feathers. The courtship display of the pennant bearer also has individual elements that are also found in the rays of paradise birds.
The species is treated as monotypic , but according to Mayr (1962) and Gilliard (1969) there are three subspecies . Frith & Beehler do not recognize any subspecies, but stated in 1998 that the former subspecies P. a. hallstromi slightly longer wings and a longer tail than the P. a. alberti and P. a. buergersi owns.
Way of life
In mountain forests near the town of Tari , the males tend to stay in the upper treetop area. Females, on the other hand, also come to the ground or into the undergrowth. They are evidently also comparatively true to location: a female ringed in the same region in September 1986 was caught again at the original ringing site in October 1987 and January 1989.
The diet consists mainly of fruits that ripen in the treetop area of the mountain forests. They seem to have a particular preference for green fruits. The stomach contents of three individuals collected in two different areas of Papua New Guinea contained between 75 and 90 percent fruit and 10 to 25 percent arthropods. They may also eat buds and flowers.
While searching for arthropods, they search the mosses and lichens that grow along branches of comparatively small diameter. Once it was also observed how a pennant bearer carried a dead fern frond to a stand guard and tore it apart with his beak, while at the same time holding it with one foot.
Reproduction
Like the vast majority of birds of paradise, the pennant bearer is polygynous , which means that the male mates with several females if possible. The respective female raises the offspring alone.
Advertise for females
The male sings first of all from exposed stand guard, which is located below some foliage in the canopy of trees that protrude above the canopy of surrounding trees. He shows only a few behaviors that are associated with a courtship. This includes opening the beak, which reveals the greenish inside of the beak. The long decorative feathers of the head are also presented by moving the head. The actual courtship takes place below this raised hide. It starts when a female appears. The male then flies in creepers two to 15 meters above the ground and sits there about half a meter below the female. He lets out hissing and squeaking calls that can only be heard in the immediate vicinity. During this, he bends and stretches his legs rhythmically so that the vine on which he is sitting starts to vibrate. The elongated neck feathers and the feathers of the male's chest are bristled. The long headdress feathers are raised so far that they float in the air almost horizontally to the ground. The pennants are swung up and down by the swinging movements. Occasionally the male lifts the ornamental feathers so far that they protrude far above his head, then he puts them back on so that they lie parallel to each other over his back. Other courtship elements include rapid wing flutter, which is usually seen when the female shows little interest in courtship. At the height of the courtship, the male brings the ornamental feathers forward so that the ends point towards the female. He approaches the female through jumping movements, which are first slowly and then increasingly faster. During this approach, the feathers of the neck, chest, and headdress feathers are bristled. Mating then usually occurs.
Nest, clutch and nestlings
The nest is an open, flat bowl with an outer diameter of about 17 centimeters. The actual nest bowl has an average diameter of 5.5 centimeters. The nest is built from the stems of various epiphytic orchids and very young fern fronds with a maximum length of 25 centimeters. The interior of the nest is mostly covered with fine orchid stems. The clutch consists of a single egg. The incubation period is more than 22 days. During this time, the female seems to be actively shooing away smaller songbirds that are closer than a meter or two to the nest. The nestling duration could not yet be precisely determined. During the first seven days of its life, the female hoards the young bird for between 6 and 8 minutes and feeds between three and five times an hour.
Dedication names
The additional species alberti honors Albert of Saxony , the penultimate king of the Kingdom of Saxony. In the same year that the pennant bearer was named in honor of King Albert, his wife received a comparable honor: the Carola bird of paradise is named after her.
Trivia
- The archbold bower bird , a large species of bower bird limited to the high mountains of New Guinea, which builds elaborate courtship areas adorned with objects, likes to use the long headdress feathers of the pennant as decoration. The Archbold Bowerbird also very often imitates the voice of the pennant bearer.
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 .
Web links
- Avibase data set Pennant Bearer ( Pteridophora alberti ) Meyer, AB, 1894
- Videos, photos and sound recordings on Pteridophora alberti in the Internet Bird Collection
Individual evidence
- ↑ Pteridophora alberti in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2011.2. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2009. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
- ↑ Clifford B. Frith, Bruce M. Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae. 1998, p. 305.
- ^ A b Clifford B. Frith, Bruce M. Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae. 1998, p. 306.
- ↑ a b c K. Grzesiak, A. Lindsay: Pteridophora alberti. 2008. (online) , Animal Diversity Web. (English, accessed on September 11, 2010)
- ↑ a b c Clifford B. Frith, Bruce M. Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae. 1998, p. 308.
- ↑ a b c d e Clifford B. Frith, Bruce M. Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae. 1998, p. 307.
- ↑ Zoonomen - Zoological Nomenclature Resource: Pteridophora (accessed November 24, 2010)
- ^ Pteridophora alberti in the Internet Bird Collection.
- ^ A b Michael Heads: Birds of paradise, vicariance biogeography and terrane tectonics in New Guinea. In: Journal of Biogeography. 29, 261–283, p. 270. ( online ( memento of July 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ); PDF; 845 kB)
- ↑ Clifford B. Frith, Bruce M. Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae. 1998, p. 310.
- ↑ Clifford B. Frith, Bruce M. Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae. 1998, p. 311.
- ↑ Clifford B. Frith, Bruce M. Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae. 1998, p. 312.
- ^ A b Clifford B. Frith, Bruce M. Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae. 1998, p. 313.
- ↑ Clifford B. Frith, Bruce M. Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae. 1998, p. 314.
- ↑ Clifford B. Frith, Dawn. W. Frith: The Bowerbirds - Ptilonorhynchidae . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-854844-3 .