King of Saxony Bird of Paradise
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Pteridophora alberti Meyer, 1894 |
The King of Saxony Bird of Paradise, Pteridophora alberti is a small, up to 22cm long, passerine bird of the Paradisaeidae family. It is the only member in monotypic genus Pteridophora. The male is a black and yellow bird of paradise with a dark brown iris, black bill, brownish grey legs, aqua green mouth, and two remarkably long, scalloped, enamel blue brow plumes that can be erected at the bird’s will. So bizarre are its ornamental head plumes that, when the first specimen was brought to Europe, this bird was thought to be a fake. The unadorned female is a greyish brown bird with barred below.
The King of Saxony Bird of Paradise is distributed to the cloud forests of New Guinea. Its diet consists mainly of fruits, berries and arthropods.
The name commemorates the German King Albert I of Saxony.
Although males of King of Saxony Bird of Paradise are hunted for its highly prized long plumes, used by natives for ceremonial purposes, it is a common species throughout its large range. The King of Saxony Bird of Paradise is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES. Also, molted plumes in good condition are sought out by male Archbold's Bowerbirds for use as decorations, and in turn collected from the courtship bowers by humans.
[edit] Trivia
- In 1996, David Attenborough filmed the first ever footage of the mating ritual of the King of Saxony Bird of Paradise.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Pteridophora alberti. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
[edit] External links
