- Paradisaea decora
Identification
Male 33cm (excluding tail wires), female 29cm.
Male
- Yellowish-green to dark green lores, forehead, ear-coverts, malar area, chin and throat
- Pale orange-yellow rest of head, including nape, hindneck, mantle and uppertail-coverts
- Pale orange-yellow upperwing-coverts, flight-feathers and tertials pinkish washed olive-brown
- Dark olive-brown tail with two grossly elongated central feathers, forming two wires
- Silky crimson grossly elongated filamental flank, almost as long as wires
- Medium-grey breast, separated by narrow greyish-yellow collar from green of throat
- Sulphur-yellow eye
- Blue-grey bill
- Grey interior mouth
- Purplish brown-grey legs
Female
- Smaller and without elongated tail-feathers or flank-feathers
- Dark brown forehead, lores, malar area, chin and throat
- Yellowish-buff crown to upper mantle
- Brownish-olive rest of upperparts
- Cinnamon underparts finely barred greyish
Juvenile undescribed, immature males similar to females.
Distribution
Endemic to D'Entrecasteaux Archipelago (Fergusson Island and Normanby Island) off southeast New Guinea.
Poorly known but obviously fairly common in its small range.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species.
May form a superspecies with Lesser Bird-of-paradise, Raggiana Bird-of-Paradise, Greater Bird-of-Paradise and Red Bird-of-Paradise.
Habitat
Hill forest, forest edge and secondary regrowth. Occurs up to at least 600m.
Behaviour
Diet
Feeds on fruits and arthropods.
Breeding
Breeding season unknown, display and mating observed in November. A polygynous species. Up to 15 males form a lek in large spreading trees, sometimes shared with Raggiana Bird-of-Paradise. The display involves several postures and a dance phase.
The female builds and attends the nest alone. No informations about nest or clutch size.
Movements
A resident species.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2013. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.8., with updates to August 2013. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2009. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 14: Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553507
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Goldie's Bird-of-Paradise. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 3 January 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Goldie%27s_Bird-of-Paradise
