King Bird-of-Paradise

King Bird-of-paradise

King Bird-of-paradise
male
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordate
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Paradisaeidae
Genus:	Cicinnurus
Species:	C. regius
Binomial name
Cicinnurus regius (Linnaeus, 1758)

The King Bird-of-paradise, Cicinnurus regius is a small, approximately 16 cm long, passerine bird of the Paradisaeidae (Bird-of-paradise) family. The male is a crimson and white with bright blue feet and green-tipped fan-like plumes on its shoulder. The two elongated tail wires are decorated with emerald green disk feathers on its tip. The unadorned female is a brown bird with barring below.

The King Bird-of-paradise is distributed throughout lowland forests of New Guinea and nearby islands. This so-called "living gem" is the smallest and most vividly colored among birds of paradise. The diet consists mainly of fruits and arthropods.

An extraordinary display is performed by the male with a series of tail swinging, fluffing of its abdomen white feathers that makes the bird look like a cottonball, and acrobatic pendulum displays.

Widespread and a common species throughout its large habitat range, the King Bird-of-paradise is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES.

References

• BirdLife International (2009). Cicinnurus regius. In: IUCN 2010. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 3.1. Downloaded on 11 Mar 2011. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern

External links

• BirdLife Species Factsheet

Retrieved from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Bird-of-paradise