Raggi bird of paradise
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Raggi Bird of Paradise ( Paradisaea raggiana ) |
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| Paradisaea raggiana | ||||||||||||
| PL Sclater , 1873 |
The Raggi Bird of Paradise ( Paradisaea raggiana ), also called Raggis Great Bird of Paradise , is a species of bird from the genus of the actual Birds of Paradise ( Paradisaea ) within the family of the Birds of Paradise (Paradisaeidae). The species occurs in the south and east of Papua New Guinea .
The species is classified as harmless ( least concern ) by the IUCN . Several subspecies are distinguished.
features
Body type and measurements
The Raggi bird of paradise reaches a body length of up to 34 centimeters without the wire-like elongated middle control spring pair, of which 12.5 to 15.4 centimeters fall on the normal tail plumage in the male. The middle pair of control springs, which only the male has in this form, has a length of 41 to 52.7 centimeters. In the females, which are up to 33 centimeters in length, slightly smaller than the males, the normally formed middle pair of control feathers, with a length of 10.6 to 12.8 centimeters, is even slightly shorter than the rest of the tail plumage, which has a length of Reaches 11 to 13.2 centimeters.
The shape of the beak is typical of an omnivore: it is long and strong, it can be 3.5 to 4.1 centimeters long in the male. In females, it measures 3.4 to 4 centimeters. In both sexes the beak has a chalky gray-blue color. Males weigh between 240 and 295 grams. The females are much lighter than the males at 135 to 210 grams.
male
The reins , forehead, ear covers, beard, chin and throat are velvety black and have an intense emerald green shimmer when the light falls. The male ragge bird of paradise differs from the males of the small and large bird of paradise by a narrow yellow band that separates the emerald green shimmering throat from the front breast. This band extends to the coat and has a dark yellow color there. The rest of the head is pale orange-yellow and can form silver highlights under certain lighting conditions, which can also be found on the neck plumage and the coat. The neck and the coat are otherwise red-brown, the back and the wings, however, are sepia-colored. A narrow, orange-yellow band runs on the small wing covers. The rump and the upper tail-coverts have a slightly more intense red-brownish tone. The greatly elongated middle control spring pair only has outer flags in the basal part, which are emerald green in color. They then change into black-brown wire-like spring shafts.
The chest is black-brown and framed on the sides by slightly elongated feathers that can shine like bronze. The belly is dark brown, the thighs, the rump and the under tail-coverts, on the other hand, are wine-reddish. The under tail coverts are greatly elongated and reach about half of the tail end. The flank springs are greatly elongated. They are reddish to orange-red with whitish tips. The iris is yellow, the legs and feet are gray-brown. The inside of the beak is matt flesh-colored.
female
In the female, the front face, ear covers , chin and throat are of a warm sepia color. The crown of the head, the back neck and the sides of the neck and a narrow band on the front neck are dark yellow. The underside of the body is light reddish and brightens in the middle of the abdomen. The upper side of the body is red-brown as in the male.
Subadult males
The young males initially have plumage that resembles that of the females. They then begin to have some feathers on their heads that resemble the plumage of adult males. In the case of captive males, which are usually better nourished than free-living birds, this change begins at the earliest when they are four years and eight months old. It usually takes one to two years for the males to have the full plumage.
voice
The males have four characteristic calls. If you do not stay near the traditional courtship areas or if there are no other males at the traditional courtship areas, then leave a widely audible woof woof woof woof woof WAU WAAUU WAAUU WAAAUUU . These calls, increasing in intensity and occasionally also in pitch, can be heard from afar. Occasionally they also let you hear a faster sequence of calls, which is a little rougher and which is described as wok wok wok wak wach waagh waagh .
If other males are also present at the courtship area, they let out 25 to 50 fast tones that are very high in pitch for about 20 seconds. During investigations, these calls serve the observers as an indication of where one of the common courtship areas of the Raggi birds of paradise is. It is also the call to which more males and females come to the courtship area. Individual sounds can be heard when no males are courting or there is little activity at the courtship area. They then make trumpeting or growling sounds.
Distribution and subspecies
The Raggi Bird of Paradise occurs exclusively in the south and northeast of Papua New Guinea. The western boundary of the range is the watershed of the Fly and Strickland Rivers and the extreme eastern edge of the Trans-Fly ecoregion . In the north the distribution area extends to the upper reaches of the Ramu . In Madang Province , it is also found in the coastal regions.
A total of four subspecies are distinguished.
- Paradisaea raggiana raggiana Sclater, PL , 1873 is the only subspecies found in the south of the island. Their distribution area extends into the Indonesian part of the island, they can also be found in the plateaus of the center. In appearance, it differs from the other subspecies by brown shoulders in both sexes and brownish-gray tips on the decorative feathers.
- Paradisaea raggiana augustaevictoriae Cabanis , 1888 is native to the northeast. The apricot-colored side feathers of the male end in yellow tips, the chest band is missing in both sexes.
- Paradisaea raggiana granti North , 1906 is common in the east of the island. He also has a different color scheme - the yellow color goes up to the shoulders.
- Paradisaea raggiana intermedia De Vis , 1894 has both the same distribution area and the same color variant, only this subspecies is only the color of the male specimen.
habitat
The altitude distribution extends from the lowlands of the coastal regions to around 1500 meters. The distribution area overlaps in the south with that of the Great Bird of Paradise and in the north with that of the Little Bird of Paradise.
The habitat of the Raggi bird of paradise are forests of the plains and foothills as well as low mountain forests. It is also found in secondary forests and at forest edges and can also be found in forest remnants in otherwise deforested regions. In the region of the Varirata National Park , Papua New Guinea, Raggi Birds of Paradise occur in all forested areas, but males with adult plumage are mostly in the interior of the forest.
Way of life
Raggi birds of paradise are mostly found in the upper treetop area. Groups of them are occasionally seen flying through the treetops, obviously following relatively fixed routes. They are often associated with Pitohui and Pomatostomus species near Port Moresby . In other regions, however, they were also observed together with sonic manucodes , blue- naped birds of paradise and sickle- tailed birds of paradise .
Ragge birds of paradise live mainly on fruits. The food is supplemented by arthropods , which they peck from bark, branches and leaves in the upper treetop area.
Reproduction
Raggi birds of paradise are polygynous , which means that a male mates with several females whenever possible. The females raise the offspring alone.
Courtship and courtship
The males court at a lek , a common courtship area where several males gather. The calls that the males utter before and during the courtship can still be heard from a kilometer away. The leks exist for several years. In the Varirata National Park, a lek has been used for courtship for more than 20 years. In addition to these long-term leks, there are also those at which males only appear for a short time. They are located near abundant feeding grounds and usually only last for 14 days. During courtship, the males sit on almost horizontal branches.
The courtship begins with the males scattered in the vicinity of the lek, seeking their individual courtship places at the same time, ruffling their extended flank feathers with loud calls and flapping their half-opened wings ( convergence display ). In the second part of the courtship ( static display ), the males assume a rigid pose in which only the wings are raised and the head is lowered again and again. The flank feathers are particularly evident and the females can "inspect" the individual candidates. Occasionally they also make clicks by closing their beak quickly or rub their beaks on branches. The courtship can end here or the copulation phase ( Copulation Display ) follows . With increasing, forwards and backwards jumping movements along the branch, the male approaches the female and makes clicking sounds. It surrounds the female with its wings in order to eventually jump over and copulate.
Nest and rearing of the nestlings
The female builds the nest in forks of branches. It has an outer diameter of about 15 centimeters. Fine orchid stems, dead leaves and small roots of ferns as well as parts of creepers are used to build it. The clutch consists of one or two eggs. In captive females, eggs were laid on consecutive days. The breeding season is 18 to 20 days. The females mainly feed the nestlings with animal food, which they choke up on the edge of the nest.
The nestlings are feathered at an age of about 18 days. They leave the nest when they are around 20 days old and can already fly. They are then about two thirds the size of the female parent bird. They will be fed by the female for another six to eight weeks. Fledglings beg the female for food by flapping their wings lightly. However, they do not make any sounds, while the female makes chuckling sounds. At around four months old, they largely correspond in size and plumage to the female parent bird. They will still have dark eyes and it will take at least three years for them to have a completely yellow iris.
Life expectancy
The age record for a wild male is held by a bird ringed on Mount Missim on September 1, 1980. At that time he still wore the female-like plumage typical of subadult males. It was caught again in July 1997, when it was wearing the adult plumage of the males. He was at least 16 years and 10 months old at the time.
A hand-reared male Raggi Bird of Paradise lived in the Baiyer River Sanctuary for 25 years. Another male, at least 33 years old, is reported to have successfully mated at this age.
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.
Hybrids are particularly common with the Great Bird of Paradise : the males of this species mate with females of the Raggi Bird of Paradise. Many hybrid males are found on many leks, but this does not mean that only males emerge from such crossings: Most of the hybrids that are discovered are males because they have different plumage characteristics more than the more inconspicuously colored females. Along the upper course of the Ramu is a 35-kilometer-wide corridor in which the distribution area of the Raggi Bird of Paradise and the Little Bird of Paradise overlap. A number of hybrids between the two species have been observed in this area. The range of the two species may also overlap on the west coast of the Huon Peninsula, so that they can also find hybrids there. In this species, too, it is the males that mate with the females of the Raggi bird of paradise. Raggi birds of paradise also cross with the Kaiser bird of paradise . There is also a type specimen which was originally described as Paradisaea bloodi and which is now considered a cross between the Raggi bird of paradise and the blue bird of paradise .
Raggi birds of paradise and humans
hunt
The feathers of a number of birds of paradise are made into traditional head and body decorations by the indigenous ethnic groups of New Guinea. This also applies to the Raggi bird of paradise. Huli from the village of Hake near Tarif use the feathers on the flanks to make headdresses that usually only men wear. Other feathers from birds of paradise are also processed. A bellows or individual ornamental feathers from birds of paradise represent an object of value and serve as a trade and exchange object as well as to pay the bride price.
Keeping in captivity
Raggi birds of paradise have long been kept and successfully bred. Such husbandry successes have been achieved in Papua New Guinea, India, the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, in aviaries in Hong Kong and in the San Diego Zoo , among others . In the Baiyer River Sanctuary, the offspring succeeded in 1979, 1980, 1091 and 1983 with the same breeding pair.
literature
- Michael Apel, Katrin Glas and Gilla Simon (eds.): Natural and cultural history of the birds of paradise. Munich 2011, ISBN | 978-3-00-0352219-5.
- 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 .
- 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 .
- Philip Lutley Sclater: Mr. Sclater exhibited a series of new and rare birds, which had been transmitted to him for examination by Signor d'Albertis . In: Proceedings of the Scientific Meetings of the Zoological Society of London for the Year 1873 . 1873, p. 557-560 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
- Jean Louis Cabanis : Preliminary note on 2 new birds of paradise . In: Journal for Ornithology (= 4 ). tape 16 , no. 181 , 1888, pp. 119 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
- Alfred John North: Description of a new bird of Paradise . In: The Victorian Naturalist . tape 22 , no. 9 , 1906, pp. 156-158 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
- Charles Walter De Vis: Report on ornithological specimens collected in British New Guinea . In: Annual report on British New Guinea from 1st July, 1893 to 30th June, 1894 with Appendices . 1894, p. 99-105 ( nla.gov.au ).
Web links
- Avibase record Raggiana Bird of Paradise ( Paradisaea raggiana ) Sclater, PL, 1873
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Paradisaea raggiana in the Internet Bird Collection
- Paradisaea raggiana inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
- Raggi Bird of Paradise (Paradisaea raggiana) in the Encyclopedia of Life . Accessed August 17, 2017.
Single receipts
- ↑ Handbook of the Birds of the World on Raggi-Paradieshopf ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on August 6, 2017
- ↑ a b c Frith & Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae . P. 458.
- ↑ a b Frith & Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae . P. 457.
- ↑ a b Frith & Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae . P. 461.
- ^ Philip Lutley Sclater, p. 559.
- ^ Jean Louis Cabanis, p. 119.
- ^ Alfred John North, p. 156.
- ^ Charles Walter De Vis, p. 105.
- ↑ Frith & Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae . P. 459.
- ↑ a b Frith & Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae . P. 460.
- ↑ Frith & Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae . P. 462.
- ↑ a b Frith & Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae . P. 463.
- ↑ a b Frith & Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae . P. 466.
- ↑ Frith & Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae . P. 468.
- ↑ a b c d Frith & Beehler: The Birds of Paradise - Paradisaeidae . P. 469.
- ^ McCarthy: Handbook of Avian Hybrids of the World . P. 228.
- ^ McCarthy: Handbook of Avian Hybrids of the World . P. 230.
- ^ McCarthy: Handbook of Avian Hybrids of the World . P. 231.
- ↑ Apel et al .: Natural and cultural history of the birds of paradise. P. 59.
