King Bird-of-paradise

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

King Bird-of-paradise

Male
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)^[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordate
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Paradisaeidae
Genus:	Cicinnurus
Species:	C. regius
Binomial name
*Cicinnurus regius* (Linnaeus, 1758)

The King Bird-of-paradise (Cicinnurus regius) is a small, approximately 16 cm long, passerine bird of the Paradisaeidae (Bird-of-paradise) family. The male is crimson and white with bright blue feet and green-tipped fan-like plumes on its shoulder. The two elongated tail wires are decorated with emerald green disk feathers on its tip. The unadorned female is a brown bird with barring below.

The King Bird-of-paradise is distributed throughout lowland forests of New Guinea and nearby islands. This so-called "living gem" is the smallest and most vividly colored among birds of paradise. The diet consists mainly of fruits and arthropods.

An extraordinary courtship display is performed by the male with a series of tail swinging, fluffing of its white abdominal feathers that makes the bird look like a cottonball, and acrobatic movements of its elongated tail wires.

Widespread and a common species throughout its large habitat range, the King Bird-of-paradise is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES.

Captivity - The first captive breeding of this species was by Dr. Sten Bergman of Sweden in 1958. He was awarded a commemorative medal by the Foreign Bird League to mark this achievement.

References

↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Cicinnurus regius". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cicinnurus regius.

BirdLife Species Factsheet
King Bird-of-Paradise, courtship display at YouTube, by Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Birds-of-paradise (family: Paradisaeidae)

Genera and species

Genus	Species

Lycocorax	Paradise-crow

Manucodia	Glossy-mantled Manucode Jobi Manucode, Crinkle-collared Manucode Curl-crested Manucode Trumpet Manucode

Paradigalla	Long-tailed Paradigalla Short-tailed Paradigalla

Astrapia	Arfak Astrapia Splendid Astrapia Ribbon-tailed Astrapia Princess Stephanie's Astrapia Huon Astrapia

Parotia	Western Parotia Queen Carola's Parotia Bronze Parotia Lawes's Parotia Eastern Parotia Wahnes's Parotia

Pteridophora	King of Saxony Bird-of-paradise

Lophorina	Superb Bird-of-paradise

Ptiloris	Magnificent Riflebird Growling Riflebird Paradise Riflebird Victoria's Riflebird

Epimachus	Black Sicklebill Brown Sicklebill

Drepanornis	Black-billed Sicklebill Pale-billed Sicklebill

Cicinnurus	Magnificent Bird-of-paradise Wilson's Bird-of-paradise King Bird-of-paradise

Semioptera	Standardwing

Seleucidis	Twelve-wired Bird-of-paradise

Paradisaea	Lesser Bird-of-paradise Greater Bird-of-paradise Raggiana Bird-of-paradise Goldie's Bird-of-paradise Red Bird-of-paradise Emperor Bird-of-paradise Blue Bird-of-paradise

Incomplete list of likely hybrid birds-of-paradise

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.