Imagine a bird so vibrant, so extraordinary, that it seems to have leapt straight out of a fairy tale. This is the King Bird-of-Paradise (Cicinnurus regius), a creature of such dazzling beauty that it rules not just the avian kingdom, but also the imaginations of those lucky enough to witness its splendor.
This bird, the only member of the genus Cicinnurus, is a passerine bird of the Paradisaeidae (bird-of-paradise) family. It calls the lowland forests of New Guinea and western satellite islands its home, and some populations even venture high into the hills and lower mountains.
Watch The King Bird-of-Paradise
The King’s Appearance
The King Bird-of-Paradise is small, measuring approximately 6.3–7.5 inches long, but 12.2 inches if central rectrices of adult males included. The adult male is a spectacle to behold, with an overall metallic crimson color, slightly orange under certain lights, and more particularly so in the crown.
They have a narrow, dark green iridescent breast band with whitish lower breast, and green-tipped fan-like plumes on the shoulder. The feathers of the undertail and mantle are olive-brown, with iridescent green tips, and violet legs. Bills are ivory-yellow.
Females, on the other hand, have a more subdued appearance, with dull olive heads and upperparts with yellowish underparts and violet legs.
The King’s Courtship
The King Bird-of-Paradise’s colorful appearance is primarily for attracting females. During courtship, males put on a show by puffing up their white bellies, flaring out their shoulder fans, and lifting their tail feathers.
The females, on the other hand, have a more subdued appearance, with colors that help them blend into the forest while nesting. Courtship involves complex vocalizations, feather manipulations, and a variety of body posturing and movements, including hanging fully inverted and pendulum-like swinging.
An extraordinary courtship display is performed by the male with a series of tail swinging, fluffing of the white abdominal feathers that makes the bird look like a cotton ball, and acrobatic movements of their elongated tail wires.
The King’s Habitat
The King Bird-of-Paradise is native to the island of New Guinea and spends most of its time high in the canopy, making it difficult to observe outside of a museum. It is distributed throughout the majority of lowland New Guinea mainland, and on the surrounding islands, including Aru, Salawati, Missol, and Yapen, inhabiting mostly lowland rainforests, gallery forests, forest edges, and disturbed and tall secondary forests.
The King’s Diet
The diet of the King Bird-of-Paradise consists mainly of fruits and arthropods. Foraging occurs at all forest levels, where birds often join mixed-species foraging flocks to seek arthropods in the lower forest.
The King’s Conservation Status
The species is tentatively assessed as being in decline due to habitat loss and unsustainable levels of hunting. However, despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, being a widespread and abundant species throughout their large habitat range, the king bird-of-paradise is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed in Appendix II of CITES.
The King’s Intriguing History
In 2009, these birds were at the center of one of the largest museum heists of all time. Hundreds of rare birds were stolen, with their feathers being used to create salmon fly lures. The stolen birds were valued at $250,000. The story of this heist, involving flutes, fish, feathers, and felons, is covered in a double feature on the natural history heist of the century.
The King Bird-of-Paradise is a bird that truly lives up to its royal title. Its vibrant colors, unique behaviors, and intriguing history make it a fascinating subject for bird lovers and researchers alike.
