Large parotia with long, wedge-shaped tail often cocked slightly upward or to the side. Male is entirely velvety jet-black, head decorated with distinctively large erectile narial tuft of elongate coppery bronzed feathers and narrow nuchal bar of intensely iridescent blue to pink-purple scale-like feathers; behind each eye, from amid ear-tuft of elongate narrowly pointed feathers, three long erectile wire-like bare occipital plume shafts with spatulate tips of normal black feather web; mantle to uppertail with slight plum-purple sheen; velvety black chin and throat with slight purple iridescence, this grading into otherwise discrete breast shield of large scale-like feathers intensely iridescent bronzed emerald-green to green-yellow and. in some lights, purple, magenta to bluish-violet (Jet-black feather bases visible on lower side of shield), remaining underparts jet-black with plum-purple sheen; iris cobalt-blue, comparatively broad pale greenish-cream outer ring; bill shiny black; legs purplish lead-grey. Female is smaller than male (no overlap in wing length), lacking head plumes and iridesence; cryptically coloured brown above, with brownish-blackish head, off-white superciliary stripe originating from behind eye, and broad submoustachial stripe flecked blackish-grey, bordered below by comparatively narrow blackish malar stripe, chin and throat whitish-grey, flecked and barred brownish-black, grading to remaining underparts of brown-cinnamon, uniformly barred brownish-black. Juvenile undescribed; immature male like adult female, but iris as adult male; first-year plumage has pointed rectrices and lacks indentation on ninth primary (present on adult); male tail length slightly decreases with age.
Endemic Vulnerable
Large parotia with long, wedge-shaped tail often cocked slightly upward or to the side. Male is entirely velvety jet-black, head decorated with distinctively large erectile narial tuft of elongate coppery bronzed feathers and narrow nuchal bar of intensely iridescent blue to pink-purple scale-like feathers; behind each eye, from amid ear-tuft of elongate narrowly pointed feathers, three long erectile wire-like bare occipital plume shafts with spatulate tips of normal black feather web; mantle to uppertail with slight plum-purple sheen; velvety black chin and throat with slight purple iridescence, this grading into otherwise discrete breast shield of large scale-like feathers intensely iridescent bronzed emerald-green to green-yellow and. in some lights, purple, magenta to bluish-violet (Jet-black feather bases visible on lower side of shield), remaining underparts jet-black with plum-purple sheen; iris cobalt-blue, comparatively broad pale greenish-cream outer ring; bill shiny black; legs purplish lead-grey. Female is smaller than male (no overlap in wing length), lacking head plumes and iridesence; cryptically coloured brown above, with brownish-blackish head, off-white superciliary stripe originating from behind eye, and broad submoustachial stripe flecked blackish-grey, bordered below by comparatively narrow blackish malar stripe, chin and throat whitish-grey, flecked and barred brownish-black, grading to remaining underparts of brown-cinnamon, uniformly barred brownish-black. Juvenile undescribed; immature male like adult female, but iris as adult male; first-year plumage has pointed rectrices and lacks indentation on ninth primary (present on adult); male tail length slightly decreases with age.
Male 43 cm, 170-172 g; female 36 cm, 144-154 g
Taxonomy: Parotia wahnesi Rothschild, 1906, Rawlinson Mountains, New Guinea. Monotypic. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)
Distribution:
- Adelbert Range and Huon Peninsula (Finisterre Range, Saruwaged Range, Cromwell Mts, Rawlinson Mts), in NE New Guinea.
Middle montane forests; 1300-1600 m in Adelbert Range and 1100-1700 m in Huon Peninsula. Display courts tend to be adjacent to or within windfall gaps, and thus beneath a hole in canopy; two were c. 5 m apart in thick shrubbery beneath small canopy gap on broadly rounded ridge at 1590 m in mixed primary montane forest.
Little known. Fruits and insects recorded as eaten, but relative preferences not known; leaf-eating recorded in captivity. Forages actively in subcanopy. Seeks insects by probing in moss and epiphytes.
Season at least Nov-Feb, but data few; display period centred on dry season, waning court attendance noted in Jan. Polygynous, promiscuous males seasonally maintaining terrestrial display court on flat parts of gently sloping hillside or flat ridgetop, courts solitary but within auditory range of others, thus possibly as exploded lek; female builds and attends nest alone. Male cleans court of leaves and debris beneath at least one horizontal perch, leaves removed from saplings within court; courtship involves static and leg-flexing postures, with complex movements of flank plumes, pectoral shield, mantle cape, nuchal crest and occipital plumes; basic display pattern similar to that of P. laweii with some variation, display differs mainly in that it is preceded by little court-clearing, narial tufts opened but no crest to extend forwards to cover them, occipital plumes are thrown forwards before bird stands erect, and it uses tail and wings when crouched; male performs a Horizontal Perch Pivot as enticement followed by Horizontal Perch Sidle and Ballerina Dance; as with congeners, courtship highly complex, involving eleven diagnosable behaviour patterns, including some of up to 46 elements, within highly structured framework. In captivity, clutch 2 eggs, laid on consecutive days. No other information