Carola's Parotia
Encyclopedia
The Queen Carola's Parotia, Parotia carolae, also known as Queen Carola's Six-wired Bird of Paradise is a medium-sized, up to 26 cm long, bird of paradise. The males, like all members in its genus, are mostly black and have three ornamental spatule head wires attaching behind each eye and elongated display feathers on the sides that form a tutu
-like "skirt" during courtship. Unlike most other parotias, it also has white flank plumes, a gold-and-white crest, golden whiskers and eyebrow, and iridescent throat as well as breast feathers. The female is an overall brown bird barred greyish below. Queen Carola's Parotia often includes the enigmatic Berlepsch's Parotia
as a subspecies
, but information gained when it was rediscovery in 2005 hardened the case for considering it a separate species.
One of the most colorful parotias, the Queen Carola's Parotia inhabits the mid-mountain forests of central New Guinea
. The diet consists mainly of fruits and arthropods. The stunning courtship dance of this species was described in detail by Scholes (2006). It is similar to that of Lawes's Parotia
, but modified to present the iridescent throat plumage and the flank tufts to best effort.
The name commemorates Queen Carola of Vasa
, the wife of King Albert I of Saxony
.
Widespread and common throughout its fairly remote range, the Queen Carola's Parotia is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List
of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES.
Ballet tutu
A tutu is a skirt worn as a costume in a ballet performance, often with attached bodice. It might be single layer, hanging down, or multiple layers starched and jutting out.There are several types of ballet tutu:...
-like "skirt" during courtship. Unlike most other parotias, it also has white flank plumes, a gold-and-white crest, golden whiskers and eyebrow, and iridescent throat as well as breast feathers. The female is an overall brown bird barred greyish below. Queen Carola's Parotia often includes the enigmatic Berlepsch's Parotia
Berlepsch's Parotia
The Bronze Parotia , also known as Berlepsch's Parotia or Berlepsch's Six-wired Bird of Paradise, is a medium-sized black bird of paradise with bronze-tinged upperparts, conspicuous white flank plumes, iridescent coppery-greenish breast plumes, and six flag-tipped head wires...
as a subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
, but information gained when it was rediscovery in 2005 hardened the case for considering it a separate species.
One of the most colorful parotias, the Queen Carola's Parotia inhabits the mid-mountain forests of central New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
. The diet consists mainly of fruits and arthropods. The stunning courtship dance of this species was described in detail by Scholes (2006). It is similar to that of Lawes's Parotia
Lawes's Parotia
Lawes's Parotia, Parotia lawesii, is a medium-sized passerine of the birds of paradise family, Paradisaeidae. It is distributed and endemic to mountain forests of southeast and eastern Papua New Guinea. Occasionally, the Eastern Parotia is considered a subspecies of P...
, but modified to present the iridescent throat plumage and the flank tufts to best effort.
The name commemorates Queen Carola of Vasa
Carola of Vasa
Carola of Vasa was a titular princess of Sweden, and the queen consort of Saxony...
, the wife of King Albert I of Saxony
Albert I of Saxony
Albert was a King of Saxony and a member of the House of Wettin.He was the eldest son of Prince John, Albert (full name: Frederick Augustus Albert Anton Ferdinand Joseph Karl Maria Baptist Nepomuk Wilhelm Xaver Georg Fidelis) (Dresden, 23 April 1828 – Schloss Sibyllenort (Szczodre), 19 June...
.
Widespread and common throughout its fairly remote range, the Queen Carola's Parotia is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List
IUCN Red List
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...
of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES.
External links
- BirdLife Species Factsheet
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology: Carola's Parotia courtship dance videos. (Do "Advanced Search" for common name Carola's Parotia. Requires QuickTimeQuickTimeQuickTime is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. The classic version of QuickTime is available for Windows XP and later, as well as Mac OS X Leopard and...
7) - Audio and Video from the Macaulay Library