Epimachus meyeri
Large paradisaeid with long, sickle-shaped bill and long, graduated tail with greatly elongated sabre-shaped central rectrices. Male nominate race has entire head black, in certain lights scale-like feathers of crown and face showing metallic green-blue iridescence with purple and/or magenta washes, chin, throat and entire neck black with iridescent magenta feather tipping; black above, mantle and back with green-blue and/ or magenta sheens, modified large scale-like central back feathers highly iridescent metallic blue-green, rump with purple or plum gloss: velvety black upperwing with variable blue-green, blue to purple or plum gloss or sheen: brownish-black uppertail with blue iridescent sheen on outer webs, elongated central feather pair iridescent metallic green-blue and/or magenta; dark brown breast, increasingly washed with plum-purple at side; greatly enlarged axehead-shaped pectoral plumes black with metallic dark magenta iridescence, shorter overlying ones broadly tipped iridescent metallic blue, purple and/or violet; elongate modified feathers on each side of breast, belly and vent with highly iridescent metallic purple and/or magenta broad (but tapering) tips, sparse filamental flank plumes variable fawn-brown with paler, straw-coloured, central shafts; vent and undertail-coverts olive-brown; iris pale chalk-blue; bill black, mouth bright yellow; legs dark greyish to blackish. Female is markedly smaller than male, particularly in tail, has plumage radically different, lacking iridescence; cryptically coloured in various dark browns dorsally, but more reddish-brown on forehead, crown and nape, darker brown upperwing with raw umber edging to remiges and greater coverts; face blackish, chin and throat dark sooty-brown, finely flecked dull buff, underparts greyish-white to light buff with regular blackish-brown barring throughout, slightly paler barring towards rear. Juvenile is like adult female, but crown and mantle brighter and more rust-coloured, general plumage soft and fluffy, especially on abdomen; immature male like adult female, but tail longer; subadult male variable, from much like adult female with few feathers of adult male plumage intruding to like adult male but with few female-like feathers remaining, young male first acquires darker crown than adult female and blackish feathering around eyes, lores, bill, chin and upper throat, followed by adult head plumage and then, with subsequent moults, an increasing proportion of adult plumage; male acquires progressively longer tail with age, central feather pair more than doubling in length. Race bloodi is similar lo nominate but is considerably smaller, with male flank plumes paler, rather more dirty whitish; albicans is also similar to nominate but is slightly smaller, with male flank plumes whitish.
Not Threatened
Large paradisaeid with long, sickle-shaped bill and long, graduated tail with greatly elongated sabre-shaped central rectrices. Male nominate race has entire head black, in certain lights scale-like feathers of crown and face showing metallic green-blue iridescence with purple and/or magenta washes, chin, throat and entire neck black with iridescent magenta feather tipping; black above, mantle and back with green-blue and/ or magenta sheens, modified large scale-like central back feathers highly iridescent metallic blue-green, rump with purple or plum gloss: velvety black upperwing with variable blue-green, blue to purple or plum gloss or sheen: brownish-black uppertail with blue iridescent sheen on outer webs, elongated central feather pair iridescent metallic green-blue and/or magenta; dark brown breast, increasingly washed with plum-purple at side; greatly enlarged axehead-shaped pectoral plumes black with metallic dark magenta iridescence, shorter overlying ones broadly tipped iridescent metallic blue, purple and/or violet; elongate modified feathers on each side of breast, belly and vent with highly iridescent metallic purple and/or magenta broad (but tapering) tips, sparse filamental flank plumes variable fawn-brown with paler, straw-coloured, central shafts; vent and undertail-coverts olive-brown; iris pale chalk-blue; bill black, mouth bright yellow; legs dark greyish to blackish. Female is markedly smaller than male, particularly in tail, has plumage radically different, lacking iridescence; cryptically coloured in various dark browns dorsally, but more reddish-brown on forehead, crown and nape, darker brown upperwing with raw umber edging to remiges and greater coverts; face blackish, chin and throat dark sooty-brown, finely flecked dull buff, underparts greyish-white to light buff with regular blackish-brown barring throughout, slightly paler barring towards rear. Juvenile is like adult female, but crown and mantle brighter and more rust-coloured, general plumage soft and fluffy, especially on abdomen; immature male like adult female, but tail longer; subadult male variable, from much like adult female with few feathers of adult male plumage intruding to like adult male but with few female-like feathers remaining, young male first acquires darker crown than adult female and blackish feathering around eyes, lores, bill, chin and upper throat, followed by adult head plumage and then, with subsequent moults, an increasing proportion of adult plumage; male acquires progressively longer tail with age, central feather pair more than doubling in length. Race bloodi is similar lo nominate but is considerably smaller, with male flank plumes paler, rather more dirty whitish; albicans is also similar to nominate but is slightly smaller, with male flank plumes whitish
Male 49 cm (96 cm including central rectrices), 144-310 g; female 52 cm, 140-202 g.
Taxonomy: Epimachus Meyeri Finsch and A. B. Meyer, 1885, Hufeisengebirge [Horseshoe Mountains = Mount Maguli], south-eastern New Guinea. Intergeneric hybridization unrecorded in wild, but species crossed with Astrapia mayeri in captivity. Proposed race megarhynchus (described from Gebroeders Mts, in Weyland Range) synonymized with albicans. Three subspecies recognized. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)
Subspecies and Distribution:
- * albicans ( van Oort, 1915) - C Cordillera of New Guinea from Weyland Mts E to Hindenburg Mts and Victor Emanuel Mts. * bloodi Mayr & Gilliard, 1951 - mountains of E New Guinea from at least Mt Hagen and Mt Giluwe (probably from Doma Peaks/Tari region) E to Kratke Range just W of Watut/Tauri Gap. * meyeri Finsch & A. B. Meyer, 1885 - mountains of SE New Guinea E from Mt Missim (E of Watut/Tauri Gap) and Ekuti Range.
Middle and upper montane forests, including moss forest, also disturbed forest, secondary growth and forest edge; 1500-3200 m. mainly 1900-2900 m.
Fruits (mainly drupes), also arthropods and small vertebrates, in fairly equal proportions. Fruits and arthropods fed to nestlings. Forages from ground to canopy, mostly in middle stages of forest interior. Probes into and tears epiphytic plant growth, mostly using bill to locate animals within debris between bases of pandanus fronds. Often solitary, but not uncommonly forages in company of conspecifics or other birds-of-paradise (especially Astrapia). Adult male appears to forage within a home range from which it excludes other adult males, but permitting individuals in female-type plumage to feed there.
At least Apr-Jan; males with gonads moderately enlarged in Jan-Feb, Apr and Jun and much enlarged in Jul—Dec, female with oocytes moderately enlarged in Mar, Jul and Dec and much enlarged in Jan; in Wan area of SE New Guinea, recently fledged juvenile at Bulldog Road mid-Dec and another on Mt Kaindi early Mar; display at least Feb, May-Aug and mid-Dec on Mt Hagen, also Sept-Dec in Tari Gap. Polygynous, solitary promiscuous male advertisement-singing/ displaying from one or more traditional perches; female builds and attends nest alone. Male maintains large territory containing display perches (usually near-horizontal or gently sloping branches) in forest canopy, upper middle stage or substage near centre of territory, perches sometimes regularly dispersed along ridges; counter-singing at territorial boundaries possibly maintains male dispersion, but most singing performed at display sites defended against rival males. Main courtship displays include static posture, leg-flex to lean and sway, incorporating movements of pectoral, flank and tail plumes, and gaping; three phases recorded, respectively the Pumping, Leaning and Upright postures. Nest a shallow bowl of stringy living mosses, fern fronds, leaves, grasses and/or slender vines, lined with slender brownish rootlets, orchid and fern stems, dried fem tips, small leaves and many skeletonized leaf fragments, placed c, 4-12 m above ground in crown of pandanus or tree-fern or in small tree. Clutch 1 egg; no information on incubation and nestling periods.
