Blue bird-of-paradise

Paradisaea rudolphi

The blue bird-of-paradise is a medium-sized bird-of-paradise. Regarded by some ornithologists as the loveliest of all birds, the blue bird-of-paradise was discovered by Carl Hunstein in 1884. The scientific name commemorates the ill-fated Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria.
Blue bird of paradise This spectacular BOP was a very difficult mission indeed to see. And this is by far the best pic I managed to take. We missed the courtship display altogether, because of some unrest going on between tribes. Therefore our walks into some areas where a bit restricted. Still, the trip to Tari was a great experience after all! Blue bird-of-paradise,Geotagged,Papua New Guinea,Paradisaea rudolphi,Summer

Appearance

The species is approximately 30 cm long, black with a bluish-white bill, dark brown iris, grey legs, broken white eye-ring and bright blue wings. The male is adorned with violet blue and cinnamon flank plumes and two long ribbon-like tail feathers. The female has a chestnut brown below.

Distribution

The blue bird-of-paradise is endemic to Papua New Guinea. It is distributed to mountain forests of southeastern New Guinea. ITIS recognizes only one subspecies, but additional subspecies "P. r. margaritae" and "P. r. ampla" have been described. Handbook of the Birds of the World recognizes the former "margaritae" of East Central New Guinea and nominate "rudolphi" of South-east New Guinea.

Status

Due to ongoing habitat loss, limited range, small population size and, in some areas, by hunting for its highly prized plumes, the rare blue bird-of-paradise is classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES.

References:

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Status: Vulnerable
EX EW CR EN VU NT LC
Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionChordata
ClassAves
OrderPasseriformes
FamilyParadisaeidae
GenusParadisaea
SpeciesP. rudolphi
Photographed in
Papua New Guinea