Carola's parotia
| Queen Carola's parotia | |
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| Species: | P. carolae
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| Parotia carolae Meyer, 1894
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The Queen Carola's parotia (Parotia carolae) also known as Queen Carola's six-wired bird-of-paradise is a species of bird-of-paradise.
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 effect.
The name commemorates Queen Carola of Vasa, the wife of King Albert I of Saxony. The king was honoured with the King of Saxony bird-of-paradise.
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.[1] It is listed on Appendix II of CITES.
Description
The Queen Carola's parotia is medium-sized, up to 26 cm long. 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.
Subspecies
Queen Carola's parotia often includes the enigmatic Berlepsch's parotia as a subspecies, but information gained when it was rediscovered in 2005 hardened the case for considering them distinct species.
- Parotia carolae berlepschi (disputed; see above)
- Parotia carolae carolae
- Parotia carolae chalcothorax
- Parotia carolae chrysenia
- Parotia carolae clelandiae
- Parotia carolae meeki
References
- ^ a b Template:IUCN
- Scholes, Edwin III (2006): Courtship Ethology of Carola's Parotia (Parotia carolae). Auk 123(4): 967–990. [Article in English with Spanish abstract] DOI: 10.1642/0004-8038(2006)123[967:CEOCPP]2.0.CO;2 HTML abstract
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 QuickTime 7)
- Audio and Video from the Macaulay Library
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