This bird’s beautiful blue plumage is enhanced to perfection by his equally beautiful dancing in his courtship display.
Meet the Blue bird-of-paradise
The blue bird-of-paradise (Paradisornis rudolphi), is a beautiful, relatively large species of bird-of-paradise. It is the only species in the Paradisornis genus but was previously included in the genus Paradisaea. Mostly black, this bird of paradise has a bluish-white bill, dark grey legs, and a broken white eye-ring, and bright blue wings.
The male is also adorned with violet-blue and cinnamon-shaded flank plumes, from which emerge two long ribbon-like tail feathers
Dull compared to the male, the female is mostly a shade of chestnut brown.
These birds are thinly distributed in the mountain forests of the Central Ranges in southeastern Papua New Guinea.
Blue-birds-of paradise is a mainly frugivorous species, dining on a wide variety of fruit and berries, but will occasionally eat animal prey such as insects and reptiles.
During the breeding season, the male puts on a breathtaking display while hanging upside down from a branch pulsating the black oval with a rid margin on his chest, rhythmically enlarging and contracting its size. At the same time fanning out his violet-blue plumes, continuously making a soft, insect-like buzzing noise, mixed with chittering or chattering. If he is successful in his efforts the female goes on to build a nest from stems, twigs, palm leaves, and vines in a flat cup-like shape. Usually, one egg is laid within brooded over by a very defensive would-be mom.
Due to ongoing habitat loss, this bird has a decreasing limited range with a small population size. They are also under threat from hunting for their highly prized plumes, thus blue birds-of-paradise are classed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.