The
Victoria’s Riflebird,
Ptiloris victoriae also known as
Duwuduwu to the local
AboriginalIndigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands, and these peoples' descendants. Indigenous Australians are distinguished as either Aboriginal people or Torres Strait Islanders, who currently together make up about 2.6% of Australia's...
people, is a bird of paradise
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 the
Atherton TablelandThe Atherton Tablelands are a fertile plateau which is part of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, Australia. It is located west to south-south-west inland from Cairns, well into the tropics, but its elevated position provides a climate suitable for dairy farming. it has an area of around...
region of northeastern
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...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
where it resides year-round.
The smallest riflebird, it measures between 23-25cm. Male have an iridescent purple sheen plumage, which becomes more blue-green on the head and more bronze on the lower breast. The throat is velvety black with a metallic green and blue triangular patch in the center. Females have a pale eyebrow, and the buff underparts are faintly barred with brown. The call is a loud "yaars".
As well as insects, they eat fruits from the trees, some which they peel by holding the fruit with one foot and removing the skin with their bill.
The Victoria's Riflebird was discovered by
John MacgillivrayJohn MacGillivray was a Scottish-naturalist, active in Australia between 1842 and 1867.MacGillivray was born in Aberdeen, the son of ornithologist William MacGillivray. He took part in three of the Royal Navy's surveying voyages in the Pacific...
for
John GouldJohn Gould was an English ornithologist. The Gould League in Australia was named after him. His identification of the birds now nicknamed "Darwin's finches" was pivotal in the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, though they are barely mentioned in Charles Darwin's book,...
in 1848 and is named after Queen
Victoria of the United KingdomVictoria was the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837, and the first Empress of India of the British Raj from 1 May 1876, until her death...
.
A common species in its limited range, the Victoria’s 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.
Mating habits
When the male begins to display, he erects the feathers of his throat and sides to accentuate the bright colours of his plumage in the shafts of sunlight that pierce the dimness of the rainforest. He curves his rounded wings above his body and tilts his head back to expose his chin and throat to the light, and then moves from side to side in a fashion that looks almost mechanical.
The female is attracted to the male's display post by his raspy 'yaars' call, which becomes softer and more tuneful during the display.
The pair then face each other closely, and each bird raises and extends its wings forward alternately in an increasingly rapid rhythm. Finally the male embraces the female with both wings, and copulation ensues.
External links