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  Profile

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  In flight

Tropical Birds

Wilson’s Bird-of-paradise

Cicinnurus respublica

• mythic
• 32 km/h
• Near Threatened

Bare turquoise crown that's visible from space — or at least from satellite photos. Delivers from a single Indonesian island.

Population

No numeric estimate available; BirdLife/IUCN describe it as a poorly known species with a suspected slow population decline (1-9% per decade) driven by forest loss/degradation and hunting for skins

Habitat

Hill and foothill tropical forest, roughly 100-1,200 m elevation (most common above ~300 m), including selectively logged forest; occasionally lowland and lower montane forest

Fun fact

Males display bright, structurally-colored baby-blue skin on the crown (not feathers) — a coloration mechanism not found in any other bird-of-paradise — and clear and maintain their own patch of forest floor as a dance court to court females.

Range

Endemic to Indonesia's Waigeo and Batanta Islands off West Papua (extent of occurrence ~10,800 km²)

Diet

Fruits, arthropods, and other small invertebrates

Size

0.16 m