Parotia  

The western or Arfak parotia (Parotia sefilata), is a medium-sized, approximately 33 cm long, bird-of-paradise with a medium-length tail.

Description[edit]

Like other birds-of-paradise, the western parotia is sexually dimorphic. The male has black plumage with an iridescent structurally coloured golden-green breast shield and triangular silver feathers on its crown. It is adorned with elongated black plumes at the sides of the breast and three erectile spatulate head wires behind each eye. As with most member in the family, the female is unadorned and has brown plumage.^[2] The species is similar to Lawes's parotia (Parotia lawesii).

Distribution[edit]

Endemic to Indonesia, the western parotia is found only in the mountain forests of Vogelkop and the Wandammen Peninsula of Western New Guinea.^[2]

Behaviour[edit]

In courtship display, the male performs a ballerina-like dance with its elongated black plumes spread around skirt-like, right below the iridescence breast shield. During the spectacular dance, he shakes his head and neck rapidly to show the brilliance of his inverted silver triangle-shaped head adornment to attending females.

The nest is built and attended by the female alone. The species is polygynous.^[2]

The diet consists mainly of fruits such as figs, and arthropods.^[2]

Status[edit]

A widespread and common species throughout its range, the western parotia is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.^[1] It is listed on Appendix II of CITES.

References[edit]

The parotias are a genus, Parotia, of passerine birds in the bird-of-paradise family Paradisaeidae. They are found on New Guinea, to which they are endemic. They are also known as six-plumed birds of paradise, due to their six head quills. These birds were featured prominently in the BBC series Planet Earth.

The males of the genus are characterized by an ornamental plumage consisting of six wired head plumes with black oval-shaped tips, a neck collar of black, decomposed feathers which can be spread into a skirt-like shape, and bright or iridescent head and throat markings. During courtship, they perform ballerina-like dances and spread out their "skirt" on a patch of forest floor they have meticulously cleaned of dead leaves and other debris.^[1] The "ballerina dances" usually consist of the male hopping from foot and bobbing their heads from side to side. The males are polygamous and do not take part in raising the young. Clutch size is somewhat uncertain; it is usually one to three eggs.^[2]

Species[edit]

• Western parotia, Parotia sefilata
• Queen Carola's parotia, Parotia carolae
• Bronze parotia, Parotia berlepschi
• Lawes's parotia, Parotia lawesii
• Eastern parotia, Parotia helenae
• Wahnes's parotia, Parotia wahnesi

References[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Parotia.

Wikispecies has information related to: Parotia

• Mackay, Margaret D. (1990): The Egg of Wahnes' Parotia Parotia wahnesi (Paradisaeidae). Emu 90(4): 269.
• Scholes III, Edwin (2008): Evolution of the courtship phenotype in the bird of paradise genus Parotia (Aves: Paradisaeidae): homology, phylogeny, and modularity. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 94: 491–504.

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