Birds of Paradise

 

BIRDS OF PARADISE
    The bird of paradise is noted for its vibrant colours and bizarre shapes of the male birds’ plumage during the mating season. They are found in the New Guinea highlands and islands and some are also found in Australia.
    The males' colourful plumage is used to attract females during their breeding season. The females are dull brown with scattered brown specks. Courting males will strut around on a chosen perch or a cleared spacing on the forest floor for hours, showing off their magnificent feathers of different shapes and sizes. After mating, the females will go off and make a nest on their own, taking care of the young unaided.
    Some birds of paradise have extra long tail and flank feathers trailing behind as they fly while some are adorned with colourful feathers around the neck which can be erected to form ruffs.
    Naturally, when explorers from other countries came to the land, the brightly coloured birds caught their attention. A few were brought back to their homeland and the Bird of Paradise feathers soon became a fashion statement. By the nineteenth century, popular demand of the feathers had made the number of birds decline rapidly and almost caused extinction. Fortunately, conservation efforts managed to save the species before they were wiped out but the number of surviving birds are still small even today due to illegal poaching in their habitat.