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The
Paradise Riflebird,
Ptiloris paradiseus, is a medium-sized, up to 30cm long,
passerineA passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders:...
bird of the Paradisaeidae (Birds of Paradise) family. The male is black with an iridescent greenish blue crown, throat and central tail feathers. It has a black curved
billThe beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
, black feet, dark brown
irisThe iris is a membrane in the eye, responsible for controlling the diameter and size of the pupil and the amount of light reaching the retina. "Eye color" is the color of the iris, which can be green, blue, or brown. In some cases it can be hazel...
and yellow mouth. The female is an olive brown bird with barred blackish below.
EndemicThis is a parent page for articles about endemism among birds in various zoogeographic zones.As applied to birds, the term "endemic" refers to any species found only in a specific geographical area. There is no upper limit for the area; it would not be incorrect to refer to all bird species as...
to eastern Australia, the Paradise Riflebird is distributed to rainforests of
New South WalesNew South Wales is Australia's most populous state, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria, south of Queensland and east of South Australia...
and central
QueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia that occupies the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
. The diet consists mainly of insects and fruits.
In displays, the male extends his wings and fans them upward with its head behind the wings to expose his metallic green throat feathers. He then moves his head from side to side with open bill to show off his bright yellow mouth.
The Paradise Riflebird is evaluated as Least Concern on the
IUCN Red ListThe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1948, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources is the world's main authority on the conservation...
of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES.
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