Emperor Bird-of-Paradise
Paradisaea guilielmi
A large bird of mid-mountain forests on the Huon Peninsula. Male has 2 long black tail streamers, chestnut wings and white plumes which he spreads in his elaborate display, hanging upside down and swaying from side to side. Female has a black face and chest. Overlaps with Raggiana and Lesser Bird-of-Paradise, but usually found at higher elevations, has a dark reddish eye, male has a bottle green chest and female more yellow on the back of the neck. Voice, a nasal “caw!” or excited whooping.
Identification
The emperor bird-of-paradise is large, approximately 33 cm long, yellow and brown with a reddish-brown iris, bluish-grey bill and purplish-brown legs. The male has an extensive dark emerald green face and throat, two very long tail wires and large white ornamental flank plumes. The female is almost similar to the male, but has an all brown plumage, smaller in size and has no ornamental plumes.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Paradisaea guilielmi
- Authority
- Cabanis, 1888
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Paradisaeidae
- Genus
- Paradisaea
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Other Birds
Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker
Picoides tridactylus
Distinctive black and white woodpecker with two large white stripes on the face. Males have a yellow crown and no red plumage elements. Patterning varies across range, with varying amounts of black on the back and sides. Shy and retiring, found in old coniferous and mixed forests, especially with spruces and lots of dead trees. Often forages by stripping bark off trunks to find the invertebrates underneath. Gives a hard, yapping chip, as well as a rattled series.
Stripe-faced Wood-Quail
Odontophorus balliviani
Chunky, dark brown quail of cloud forest and elfin forest. Dark brown body is spotted white below; black bandit mask and reddish crown are distinctive. May be found singly, in pairs, or in small groups. Quite secretive, and often goes undetected until flushed suddenly from nearly underfoot. Forages on the ground, climbing over mossy tree roots and scraping aside leaves with its feet to look for small prey. Listen for its low caroling song given at dusk, an often duetted “dwee-put, dwee-put….”
Wedge-billed Woodcreeper
Glyphorynchus spirurus
Very small woodcreeper of evergreen forest in humid tropical lowlands and foothills. Creeps up trunks, often in spirals, picking at the bark for food, then flies low to another tree before hitching upwards again. Forages on fairly large trunks as well as slender trees. Often travels with mixed-species feeding flocks. Note the short, wedge-shaped bill and pale buffy breast spotting.
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