Western parotia - male perched, Minggre, Arfak Mountains, Papua
It's tango time! The male of the Western Parotia puts other dancing birds to shame. He devotes his entire life to maintaining a spotless large dance floor and perfecting his complicated dance in order to woo a female jury.
My favorite moment is the initial bow, a clear signal that things are about to get serious. He proceeds to spin around the floor like a balerina whilst neck-flexing to an imaginary beat, meanwhile rotating his lengthy head feathers. At the end of the dance, he flashes some bright feathers, but this is only visible from the female perspective.
Be sure to watch the official video to appreciate the full dance, as well as Henriette's video of our observation. This set of photos/video was recorded across two different days, we visited the dance floor twice.
The western or Arfak parotia is a medium-sized, approximately 33 cm long, bird-of-paradise with a medium-length tail. Parotia comes from the Greek "parotis", a lock or curl of hair by the ear, alluding to the head wires. The specific name "sefilata" is derived from the Latin word 'sex', meaning six, and "filum", a thread or filament.
