Lesser Bird of Paradise

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

Lesser Bird of Paradise

Conservation status

Least Concern

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Paradisaeidae
Genus:	Paradisaea
Species:	P. minor

Binomial name

Paradisaea minor
Shaw, 1809

The Lesser Bird of Paradise, Paradisaea minor is a medium-sized, up to 32cm long, maroon brown bird of paradise with a yellow crown and brownish yellow upper back. The male has dark emerald green throat, a pair of long tail-wires and adorned with pale yellow and white ornamental flank plumes. The female is a maroon bird with dark brown head and white below.

Its beautiful appearance resembles the Greater Bird of Paradise, but is smaller in size. The males are polygamous, and they perform courtship displays in groups. The female usually lays two pinkish eggs with dark markings in tree nest high above ground. The diet consists mainly of fruits and insects.

Paradisaea minor, male - Bronx Zoo

The Lesser Bird of Paradise is distributed throughout the forests of Misool and Jobi Islands of West Irian Jaya and northern New Guinea.

Widespread and common throughout its large range, the Lesser Bird of Paradise is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES.

[edit] References

BirdLife International (2004). Paradisaea minor. 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