Bronze Parotia

The Berlepsche rays Bird of Paradise was first described in 1897 by the German ornithologist Otto Kleinschmidt on the basis of two male bellows from the collection of Count Hans Hermann Carl Ludwig von Berlepsch. The name of the bird is also due to Earl of Berlepsch.

His exact distribution is unknown. A female specimen was discovered in 1985 by the American scientist Jared Diamond in the north of Papua, in Foja Mountains. An international expedition sighted in this region (also in Foja Mountains ) in December 2005, the first male of this species.

The bird is medium sized and has a black plumage with bronze strikes. Note the white wing feathers, the iridescent copper green breast feathers and the six thin long springs that originate from the head. The somewhat nondescript -looking females do not have these six springs.

The Berlepsche rays bird was once considered a subspecies of the Carola - ray bird of paradise ( Parotia carolae ), but it differs from this, as the plumage of the bird of paradise Carola - rays is much bronze and this type has an eye ring.