Parotia lawesii
Broad-winged and short-tailed parotia, Male nominate race is velvety jet-black, head adorned with erectile silver narial tuft atop basal half of upper mandible, immediately behind this a frontal crest of coppery-brown feathers, and with narrow nuchal bar of intensely iridescent blue to pink-purple scale-like feathers; behind each eye, from amid ear-tuft of elongate pointed feathers, three long erectile wire-like black occipital plumes with roughly circular spatu-late tips; mantle and back with silk-like sheen that appears coppery bronze and/or green in some lights, remaining upperparts, including tail, velvety jet-black with coppery-bronze sheen; primaries paler, more brownish-black, but exposed leading edges dully iridescent green in some lights; velvety jet-black chin and throat with iridescent sheen of purple, this grading into otherwise discrete breast shield of large intensely iridescent scale-like feathers bronzed metallic emerald-green to greenish-yellow and, in some lights, purple-magenta to bluish-violet (jet-black feather bases visible at lower side of shield), remaining underparts jet-black with coppery sheen; iris co-balt-biue with narrow pale cream-yellow outer ring (but bird can alter colour, from mostly blue to mostly yellow); bill shiny black, mouth lime-yellow to lime-green; legs purplish lead-grey. Female is smaller than male, lacking head plumes and iridesence, has distinctive brownish-black head with contrasting paler submoustachial stripe, dark malar stripe, upperparts mostly chestnut-brown, underparts regularly barred blackish, bill brownish-black, Juvenile undescribed; immature male like adult female but iris duller, more greyish to brownish; subadult male variable, like adult female with few adult male feathers intruding to like adult male but with few female-like feathers remaining, adult head plumage acquired first, when wings and tail similar to those of adult, and breast shield has coppery sheen, ralher than clearer green of fully plumaged male; male tail length decreases slightly in length with age. Race helenae differs from nominate in having nanal tuft of adult male bronzed brown, not silvery white, and female dorsal plumage slightly less russet.
Not Threatened
Broad-winged and short-tailed parotia, Male nominate race is velvety jet-black, head adorned with erectile silver narial tuft atop basal half of upper mandible, immediately behind this a frontal crest of coppery-brown feathers, and with narrow nuchal bar of intensely iridescent blue to pink-purple scale-like feathers; behind each eye, from amid ear-tuft of elongate pointed feathers, three long erectile wire-like black occipital plumes with roughly circular spatu-late tips; mantle and back with silk-like sheen that appears coppery bronze and/or green in some lights, remaining upperparts, including tail, velvety jet-black with coppery-bronze sheen; primaries paler, more brownish-black, but exposed leading edges dully iridescent green in some lights; velvety jet-black chin and throat with iridescent sheen of purple, this grading into otherwise discrete breast shield of large intensely iridescent scale-like feathers bronzed metallic emerald-green to greenish-yellow and, in some lights, purple-magenta to bluish-violet (jet-black feather bases visible at lower side of shield), remaining underparts jet-black with coppery sheen; iris co-balt-biue with narrow pale cream-yellow outer ring (but bird can alter colour, from mostly blue to mostly yellow); bill shiny black, mouth lime-yellow to lime-green; legs purplish lead-grey. Female is smaller than male, lacking head plumes and iridesence, has distinctive brownish-black head with contrasting paler submoustachial stripe, dark malar stripe, upperparts mostly chestnut-brown, underparts regularly barred blackish, bill brownish-black, Juvenile undescribed; immature male like adult female but iris duller, more greyish to brownish; subadult male variable, like adult female with few adult male feathers intruding to like adult male but with few female-like feathers remaining, adult head plumage acquired first, when wings and tail similar to those of adult, and breast shield has coppery sheen, ralher than clearer green of fully plumaged male; male tail length decreases slightly in length with age. Race helenae differs from nominate in having nanal tuft of adult male bronzed brown, not silvery white, and female dorsal plumage slightly less russet.
Male 27 cm, 153—195 g; female 25 cm, 122-169 g
Taxonomy: Parotia lawesii E. P. Ramsay, 1885, Astrolabe Mountains, subsequently considered to be Aruma Apa-Maguli Range, Owen Stanley Range, New Guinea. Intergeneric hybridization with Paradisaea rudolphi recorded; no records of hybridization with sympatric P. carolae. Race helenae sometimes treated as a separate species. Additional proposed races exhibita (described from Mt Hagen area) and fuscior (Herzog Mts) synonymized with nominate. Two subspecies recognized. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)
Subspecies and Distribution:
- * lawesii E. P. Ramsay, 1885 - highlands of EC New Guinea E to S slopes of SE peninsula. * helenae De Vis, 1897 - N watershed of peninsular SE New Guinea (from Waria SE to Milne Bay), possibly also S watershed in extreme SE.
Middle montane forest, including primary mixed oak forest, disturbed forest, also secondary growth and large to small remnant forest patches within areas of extensive village gardens; 500-2300 m, mostly 1200-1900 m.
Mostly fruits; also some animals, i.e. arthropods and skinks. Leaves eaten in captivity. Takes animal prey from epiphytes, dry tree limbs and foliage 20-30 m above ground. One individual in female-like plumage foraged for arthropods in a mixed-species flock of which Paradisaea raggiana also a member.
Season at least Jun-Jan; egg-laying early Dec (one nest), a nest with chick 5-6 days old in late Nov, males with gonads moderately enlarged Jan-Jul and much enlarged Aug-Dec, females with moderately enlarged oocytes Aug-Dec. Polygynous, with promiscuous males seasonally maintaining terrestrial courts dispersed as exploded leks, female builds and attends nest alone. Courts of 25 males were 5-350 m (average 77 m) apart, males of closer ones (15 m) being in visual and/or auditory (20-70 m) contact, each court maintained by single adult (infrequently, a male may have two immediately adjacent courts), male advertisement-sings from court perches or canopy above, court size variable, 0'5—20 ms; male cleans court of leaves and debris and decorates it with sloughed snakeskin, mammal dung, chalk, fur, feathers and bone (may steal decorations from neighbouring courts), decorations not used in display but removed by females throughout nesting season; some females show fidelity to particular male, returning to same individual to mate year after year; neighbouring males disrupt each other's courtship; courtship involves static and leg-flexing postures with complex movements of flank plumes, pectoral shield, mantle cape, nuchal crest and occipital plumes; male performs Bounce Display on court perch as female approaches (analogous to Hopping-on-the-spot Display of P. carolae); ground display a complex dance involving Upright Sleeked Pose, Initial Display Bow. Ballerina Pose, and Back-forward. Dance phases, male typically lunges across court to a female prior to copulation; complete sequence consists of danced ritualized steps and body movements accompanied by intricate feather manipulations, Nest like that of Manucodia, one described as an open shallow structure of fem tendrils and creeping-fern stems worked together with a few green fern fronds on outside, lined with fine tendrils, another was large and bulky but shallow; placed c. 5-12 m above ground in canopy foliage or vine tangle. Clutch 1 egg; no information on incubation and nestling periods. An adult-plumaged male recaptured at point of original capture more than 8 years later, and thus more than 15 years old.