Superb Bird-of-Paradise
Turns itself into a flat black oval with a glowing blue smiley face to dance for a mate
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The wacky thing
To court a female, the male superb bird-of-paradise flares an all-black cape of feathers up and around his body until he looks like a solid, perfectly round black disc — then tilts it to reveal an iridescent blue breast shield shaped unmistakably like a smiling face. He then hops and vibrates side to side across the branch in front of the female, the glowing 'smile' bouncing with him, in one of the strangest courtship displays ever filmed.
Overview
Found in the mountain forests of New Guinea, the superb bird-of-paradise is one of over 40 bird-of-paradise species, most known for extravagant male plumage shaped entirely by generations of female mate choice. Males display alone on a chosen branch or display court, performing for any female that happens by; a female's decision is based entirely on the quality of the display, and males play no role in raising chicks.
Found in
Mountain and hill forests of New Guinea.
Things worth knowing
- 1
The 'smiley face' effect was only clearly documented on camera in recent years — from most angles the blue shield just looks like scattered feathers, but from the female's exact viewing position during the dance it resolves into a symmetrical face shape.
- 2
The black cape feathers absorb close to 99.95% of light hitting them, among the darkest structural blacks known in nature, which is what makes the blue shield appear to glow by contrast.
- 3
Males spend years perfecting their display and maintaining a clear display branch, clearing away leaves and debris that might distract a visiting female.
- 4
Only a small fraction of males in a population get chosen to mate at all — female choice is so selective that a few high-performing males father most of the offspring.
- 5
The extreme visual specialization of the display evolved because New Guinea's forests are largely free of ground predators, letting birds-of-paradise invest heavily in flamboyant display rather than camouflage.