English language

How to pronounce family paradisaeidae in English?

Full Transcript

The birds-of-paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes,
where the majority of species are found in New Guinea and eastern Australia.
The family has 42 species in 15 genera, and the members of this family are perhaps best
known for the plumage of the males of the sexually dimorphic species,
in particular the highly elongated and elaborate feathers extending from the beak, wings, tail
or head.
Rivalled only by a few pheasants and hummingbirds in colour and in the bizarre shape of the
males' plumage, it is time for us to take a look at the 10 of the most beautiful birds
of paradise.
Number 10.
The magnificent bird-of-paradise can reach around 26 cm in total length, and is distributed
amongst the hill and mid-mountain forests of New Guinea and surrounding islands.
The male has beautiful golden-yellow wings, which are overlapped by a sulfur-colored mantle,
or cape, where there are also scruffy brownish feathers on the sides of the cape.
The courtship display of the male is very unique, as it typically takes place on a sapling
standing up from the ground.
He commonly tends to his court and makes sure it stays clean and clear of fallen debris.
When a female attends his court, he is usually on his display perch.
Here, he leans backwards to point where his body is perpendicular to the sapling, raises
his mantle cape, to where it appears like a yellow halo behind his head,
expands and flexes his iridescent breast shield, and waggles his sickle-shaped tail on each
side.
Number 9.
Measuring about 110 cm (43 inches) in length if the tail is included, and around 24 inches
(63 cm) without the tail, the black sicklebill is considered as the second longest bird of
paradise, behind the ribbon-tailed astrapia.
The male has a black head with a long, silver, slightly downcurved bill, a bright yellow
mouth, scarlet-red eyes which are surrounded by iridescent scaly feathers of typically
blue-greenish color that cover most of the front of the face.
During display, he fluffs up his pectoral fans to make a comet shape, leaning and bending
horizontally.
After his intro, he rises upward and repeatedly rubs the rachides of his flight feathers together
to make woodpecker-like beating sounds, all while slowly orbiting around the female's
inquisitive face.
Number 8.
The standardwing bird-of-paradise is medium-sized, approximately 28 cm long, and olive brown.
The male has a gloss violet-and-lilac coloured crown and emerald-green breast shield, and
its most striking features are two pairs of long white plumes coming out from the bend
of the wing that can be raised or lowered at the bird's will.
The standardwing bird-of-paradise was filmed for the first time in 1986 for the BBC nature
documentary, when a cameraman stationed in the canopy captured footage of a male bird
displaying.
Ten years later, David Attenborough observed a mass display of dozens of males for the
BBC Natural World film, leading him to speculate that the reason for
their extravagant behaviour is to establish the hierarchy for breeding rights, rather
than to directly impress the females.
Number 7.
The superb bird-of-paradise is a small, approximately 26 cm long, bird, where the male is black
with an iridescent green crown, blue-green breast cover and a long velvety black erectile
cape covering his back.
The species has an unusually low population of females, and competition amongst males
for mates is intensely fierce.
This has led the species to have one of the most elaborate courtship displays in the avian
world.
After carefully and meticulously preparing a "dance floor", the male first attracts a
female with a loud call.
After the curious female approaches, his folded black feather cape and blue-green breast shield
springs upward and spreads widely and symmetrically around his head,
instantly transforming the frontal view of the male bird into a spectacular ellipse-shaped
creature that rhythmically snaps his tail feathers against each other, whilst hopping
in frantic circles around the female.
The average female rejects 15-20 potential suitors before consenting to mate, and the
show that males put on to attract females can be a long process that takes up many hours
in a day.
Number 6.
The ribbon-tailed astrapia is medium-sized, up to 32 cm long, without including the tail
of the male, which can be over 1 metre.
The body of males are velvet black, with an iridescent olive green and bronze plumage,
and is adorned with ornamental "ball" plume above its bill and two extremely long, ribbon-like
white tail feathers.
One of the most spectacular birds-of-paradise, the male ribbon-tailed astrapia has the longest
tail feathers in relation to body size of any bird, over three times the length of its
body.
However, due to habitat loss and being hunted for its plumes, the Ribbon-tailed Astrapia
is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
The long tails of male birds add to the threat, being as though the tail makes it difficult
for the species to escape from natural predators.
Number 5.
Approximately 22cm long, the male King of Saxony bird-of-paradise is black and yellow
with a dark brown iris, brownish-grey legs, a black bill with a bright aqua-green gape,
and two remarkably long (up to 50 cm) scalloped, enamel-blue brow-plumes that can be independently
erected at the bird's will.
The King of Saxony Bird of Paradise's mating courtship behavior consists of a combination
of vocalizations and physical maneuvers, enhanced by its magnificent and unique plumage.
The male's occipital feathers or "head wires" are one of a kind as they no longer possess
their regular feather structure, but instead are eye-catching ornaments that possess no
functionality.
These feathers can be twice as long as the body of the male King of Saxony, and have
evolved as the result of female selection, in which females select males based upon indirect
genetic benefits which increase offspring fitness.
Number 4.
The blue bird-of-paradise is most definitely one of the most fabulous and extravagant of
all birds of the world, with its glorified and fancy flank feathers present only in males
and also their two long wires also only found in the males.
These elegant features help the male create an illusion for his potential audience.
Unlike most other birds of paradise species, the male performs solitary on a preferably
thin branch, while an attending female observes nearby.
In the display, the male hangs from a branch upside down.
The black oval with red margin at the center of his chest is rhythmically enlarged and
contracted.
His violet blue plumes spread out in a fan, looking like an apron, swaying its body back
and forth while the black wires form two impressive arches down to either side.
Number 3.
The so-called "living gem", the king bird-of-paradise is the smallest and most vividly colored among
birds-of-paradise.
It is approximately 16 cm long, where the male is crimson and white with bright blue
feet and green-tipped fan-like plumes on his shoulder.
The two elongated tail wires are decorated with emerald green disk feathers on its tip.
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 cottonball,
and acrobatic movements of their elongated tail wires.
Number 2.
The Wilson's bird-of-paradise is rather small, where the males can reach a length of 16 centimetres
(6.3 in) and a weight of 53-67 g.
Male Wilson's Birds of Paradise are the most colorful of all the species within the family,
possessing a veritable rainbow of color.
While these birds are difficult to locate in the wild and have not been studied in-depth,
footage of the few mating rituals that have been witnessed for this species tells all.
This species territorially defends a "court" in which it performs its vocalizations and
physical maneuvers, where the males will continually work to keep this area free of debris,
making sure that nothing on the ground will distract from their displays.
During display, the males will perch on a vertical branch in the middle of their court,
flexing their brilliant green fluorescent collar and calling out to females to attract
them to their site.
Females who are interested will perch above the male on the branch and watch as he weaves
back and forth, calling to her and flexing the fluorescent collar.
Number 1.
The greater bird-of-paradise is the largest member in the genus Paradisaea, with males
measuring up to 43 cm (17 in) excluding the long twin tail wires.
During courtship, males display in trees above the ground and congregate in a lek or "court"
versus individually displaying for females.
They will then move to the main viewing perches, erecting their large plumes at their rumps
over their backs and extending their wings.
They subsequently depress their bodies close to the branches that they are on, retract
their wings, leave their tail plumes erected, and prance or charge along their branch.
If the females are present, the birds will then freeze with their bills pointed downwards,
wings extended once again, and tail plumes still upright.