Victoria Bird of Paradise
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Victoria Bird of Paradise ( Ptiloris victoriae ) |
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| Ptiloris victoriae | ||||||||||||
| Gould , 1850 |
The Victoria bird of paradise ( Ptiloris victoriae ) is a species from the genus of the Reifelvögel ( Ptiloris ) within the family of the birds of paradise (Paradisaeidae). It is one of the few species of birds of paradise that belong exclusively to the avifauna of Australia .
The Victoria Bird of Paradise lives in forests where it feeds on fruits and invertebrates . The magnificent, colorful and loud courtship takes place from call waiting rooms. The males raise their opened wings until the tips of the feathers touch each other above their head. The females mate with only a few dominant males. The female is solely responsible for building nests and raising young. No subspecies are distinguished.
The species was first scientifically described by John Gould in 1850 . He named the species after Queen Victoria, who was in power at the time . The species is classified as not endangered by the IUCN.
features
The Victoria bird of paradise is the smallest species of the Reifel birds with a body length of 21 to 27 centimeters. Males reach an average body length of 25 centimeters and weigh between 91 and 199 grams. Females remain slightly smaller with an average body length of 23 centimeters. They weigh between 77 and 96 grams. In both sexes the beak is slightly bent downwards, but in the females the curvature is somewhat more pronounced. There is a pronounced gender dimorphism . It is very similar to the slightly larger shield bird of paradise .
male
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The male has a black upper plumage, from which the metallic greenish to blue-greenish shiny cap stands out. It extends from the middle of the forehead over the crown to the nape of the neck. The rest of the head, the neck and the top of the body shimmer slightly purple when exposed to certain light. The tail plumage has a metallic green to bluish-green sheen on the upper side. The throat is also black, but has a metallic blue-green shimmering spot. The belly, the rump and the flanks are different from the otherwise black underside of the body, metallic shimmering olive green. The shine is particularly pronounced on the rump.
The beak is black and slightly shorter than that of the females. The inside of the beak is bright yellow, which can be clearly seen in calling birds.
female
In the female, the head cap extends from the forehead to the back of the neck. The cap is gray-brown to olive-colored with a short cream-colored dash. It is limited by long, narrow stripes over the eyes, which are cream-colored on the forehead and darken to a pale isabel-colored in the neck. The sides of the head and the neck are olive-colored with a fine cream-colored dash. A narrow blackish streak of beard begins at the base of the beak and ends at the level of the cheeks. The chin and throat are isabel colored. The color is darkest in the middle of the chin and throat, and on the sides of the throat it is also dotted with dark brown. The top of the body and the tail are olive colored.
The underside of the body is reddish-brown and has a dense pattern of small arrow-shaped drops. They are only missing in the middle of the lower abdomen. The lower area of the flanks and the legs are finely banded across. The tail is pale brown on the underside.
Fledglings
Fledglings resemble females in their first year of life, regardless of gender. In the second year of life, male juveniles can be distinguished from females by their shorter and straighter beak. Females in the second year of life, on the other hand, can no longer be distinguished from adult females.
From the age of three, the subadult males gradually switch to the plumage of the adult males. They initially have a predominantly female plumage, but increasingly show parts of the body with the black plumage of the adult male.
Possible confusion
The Victoria bird of paradise can hardly be confused with any other bird species in its range. It is the only bird of paradise in the humid rainforests of northeast Queensland. Even in poor light, it can be easily distinguished from other species due to its size and its comparatively narrow head and curved beak. However, the black-eared bowerbird has a similar reputation to the Victoria bird of paradise. The column gardener , who, like the black-eared bower bird, belongs to the bower birds , however, imitates the call of the Victoria bird of paradise. The column gardener, who loves to imitate, even imitates instrumental sounds such as the whirring wings of the Victoria Bird of Paradise.
Distribution area and habitat
The Victoria Bird of Paradise is found exclusively in northeast Queensland. The distribution area is limited there to the Atherton Tablelands and extends from Mount Amos in the south to Mount Elliot 30 kilometers south of Townsville . The Paluma Range also belongs to the distribution area . It also colonizes some offshore islands, including Barnard Island , Dunk Island , Goold Island, and Hinchinbrook Island .
The habitat of the Victoria Bird of Paradise are predominantly tropical rainforests. However, it also occurs in densely vegetated habitats that border on rainy weather, such as damp hard-leaved forests, swamp forests and the land side of mangrove forests. Outside of rainforests, it is mainly found in the winter half-year.
The altitude distribution ranges from lowlands to altitudes of 1500 meters.
Victoria birds of paradise are predominantly resident birds that only roam outside of the breeding season in a somewhat larger area. In the Atherton Tablelands, however, ringed birds have been found to be no more than 650 meters from their breeding ground. In other regions, however, they have been found on orchards up to 10 kilometers away from the nearest rainforest.
General way of life
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Victoria Birds of Paradise live solitary or in pairs. Only occasionally do small groups gather in fruit-bearing trees. It is then also associated with other bird species such as bower birds and fruit pigeons. Outside the breeding season, males are occasionally socialized without any aggressiveness between them.
Victoria birds of paradise live mainly in the crown area of trees. They only occasionally look for food on the ground.
food
Victoria birds of paradise mainly eat invertebrates, but also very rarely also fruits and seeds. The long beak is considered an adaptation that makes it easier for them to poke into the cortex and epiphytes. In times when there is a very large supply of fruits, they cover most of their nutritional needs with fruits.
They find their food mainly in the middle to upper area of tree tops. They are extremely agile birds and climb tree trunks like tree creepers . They also hop from branch to branch while foraging, using their beak to examine epiphytes and tree bark for insects. They also take fruit again and again during their foraging for food. They often hang upside down while pecking for fruit. For climbing, they occasionally use beak and feet, similar to a parrot. Since they also tear off pieces of bark or orchids sitting on branches while they are searching for food, they are often clearly audible during their foraging. In particular, because of the parts of the vegetation that they drop to the ground, they can attract observers. Among the birds with which they are associated mainly in the winter months, including long-tailed fruit pigeons , king fruit doves , silk foliage birds and Black ear foliage birds. Other bird species such as the striped whorl ( Oriolus sagittatus ) and golden-eared honeyeater ( Meliphaga lewinii ) are chased out of fruit-bearing trees by them.
Reproduction
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The males of the Victoria Bird of Paradise are polygynous , which means that they mate with several females. The female builds the nest alone, incubates the clutch on her own and raises the young birds on her own. The males woo the females by calling from certain fixed call points. The courtship season falls from July to December.
For a long time it has been assumed that the males defend a territory. In the meantime, however, it has been observed that the males only defend their call stations. In the Atherton Tablelands, individual males had up to five different call points within a small core area, but on average only 2.5 percent call points defended by a male. The core area in which the males move is on average no larger than 1.4 hectares. According to current knowledge, they also tolerate other males in this core area who look for food there. On the other hand, they react immediately to the calls of another courting male, even if he is sitting more than 750 meters away. At the beginning they also tolerate that not yet sexually mature males sit on their call waiting areas. However, during the height of the courtship, the young birds are chased away.
The individual call waiting points of the males are sometimes not more than 30 meters apart. Males keep returning to these core areas. A male has been observed in the Atherton Tablelands who repeatedly visited the same area from 1988 to 2002.
Only the males court. Victoria Birds of Paradise, which court and wear plumage typical of females, are male young birds that have not yet been recolored.
The females build the nests in the dense tangle of creepers. The edge of the nest is often decorated with parts of the exuvia , the shed skin, from snakes. The snake skin of the red-bellied black otter and the diamond python has been identified . Possibly the laid out snake skin should deter predators. Similar behavior is described for the shield bird of paradise .
Age and local loyalty
Victoria birds of paradise can get very old and based on the findings of berings it can also be proven that they are very true to their place. An adult male that was ringed in Yungaburra National Park in October 1988 was recaptured in the same location almost nine years later. Another male who was at least 3 years and 3 months old when he was ringed was killed by a domestic cat 15 years later.
Victoria birds of paradise and people
Population numbers are threatened by extensive deforestation. However, large parts of its distribution area are national parks and are accordingly under strict protection. It used to be heavily hunted because the feathers were used in the fashion industry as jewelry for hats.
Victoria birds of paradise can become very trusting at feeding stations.
Conflicts with humans arise today because Victoria birds of paradise invade orchards to eat and eat the fruit there. They are therefore still shot occasionally. Feral domestic cats are a potential predator for Victoria birds of paradise.
literature
- PJ Higgins, JM Peter and SJ Cowling: Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds: Volume 7 Boatbill to Starlings, Part A: Boatbill to Larks . Oxford University Press, Melbourne 2006, ISBN 978-0-195-55884-5 .
Web links
Single receipts
- ↑ a b c Handbook of the Birds of the World on the Victoria Bird of Paradise , accessed on April 22, 2017
- ^ A b Higgins, Peter & Cowling: Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds: Volume 7 Boatbill to Starlings, Part A: Boatbill to Larks . P. 643.
- ↑ a b c d Higgins, Peter & Cowling: Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds: Volume 7 Boatbill to Starlings, Part A: Boatbill to Larks . P. 644.
- ↑ Clifford B. Frith, Dawn. W. Frith: The Bowerbirds - Ptilonorhynchidae . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-854844-3 , p. 317.
- ^ A b Higgins, Peter & Cowling: Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds: Volume 7 Boatbill to Starlings, Part A: Boatbill to Larks . P. 646.
- ↑ a b c Higgins, Peter & Cowling: Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds: Volume 7 Boatbill to Starlings, Part A: Boatbill to Larks . P. 645.
- ^ Higgins, Peter & Cowling: Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds: Volume 7 Boatbill to Starlings, Part A: Boatbill to Larks . P. 648.
- ^ A b Higgins, Peter & Cowling: Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds: Volume 7 Boatbill to Starlings, Part A: Boatbill to Larks . P. 647.
- ^ Higgins, Peter & Cowling: Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds: Volume 7 Boatbill to Starlings, Part A: Boatbill to Larks . P. 650.
- ^ Higgins, Peter & Cowling: Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds: Volume 7 Boatbill to Starlings, Part A: Boatbill to Larks . P. 638.