Plumages, Molts, and Structure

Natal Down

Juveniles hatch naked, gradually becoming darker skinned (3 Frith, C. B. (1996). Further notes on little-known plumages of the Crested and Loria’s Birds of Paradise Cnemophilus macgregorii and C. loriae. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 116(4):247–251. Close ).

Juvenile (First Basic) Plumage

The short-lived juvenile plumage consists of a gray body and head, without any evidence of yellow pigments, but with rufous-brown tones in the flight feathers, and sometimes with some traces of down on the underparts (4 Mayr, E., and E. T. Gilliard (1954). Birds of central New Guinea. Results of the American Museum of Natural History Expeditions to New Guinea in 1950 and 1952. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 103(4):311–374. Close , 5 Frith, C. B., and C. J. O. Harrison (1989). An undescribed plumage of the Crested Bird of Paradise Cnemophilus macgregorii. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 109(3):137–139. Close , 3 Frith, C. B. (1996). Further notes on little-known plumages of the Crested and Loria’s Birds of Paradise Cnemophilus macgregorii and C. loriae. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 116(4):247–251. Close , 6 Coates, B. J. (1990). The Birds of Papua New Guinea, Including the Bismarck Archipelago and Bougainville. Volume 2. Passerines. Dove Publications, Alderley, Queensland, Australia. Close ). The rectrices appear distinctly pointed (4 Mayr, E., and E. T. Gilliard (1954). Birds of central New Guinea. Results of the American Museum of Natural History Expeditions to New Guinea in 1950 and 1952. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 103(4):311–374. Close ).

Formative (Immature) Plumage

Female. Plumage as adult female.

Male. Subadult male plumage is very variable, ranging from female-like birds with just traces of male adult plumage, whereas others are much like adult males, albeit with signs of immaturity scattered throughout plumage. Rectrices are longer than in full adult males.

Definitive Basic (adult) Plumage

Female. Head and upperparts uniformly dark brownish olive, suffused with a richer cinnamon tone on the lower back, rump, wings, and tail. Crest feathers much shorter and straighter than in males, and color is uniform with crown. Malar, chin, breast, thighs, and undertail-coverts slightly grayer and paler than the upperside, with creamy or even yellowish tones on the lower breast and belly, whilst the undertail is warmer cinnamon-buff. Underwing-coverts cinnamon, and the underside of the flight feathers are olive-brown washed gray. The undertail is dark brownish olive with paler shafts to the feathers.

Male. Striking and contrasting combination of orange-yellow above and blackish below. Flame-colored upper side extends from forehead through eye to upper ear-coverts, and on to mantle, scapulars and rump, being brightest around the head, where iridescent white highlights exaggerate brightness of the plumage, and dullest (buff or cinnamon) on back, wings, and uppertail. A recurved, erectile crest of 4‒6 small feathers, dark buff to cinnamon, with a golden iridescence that is typically difficult to see under normal field conditions. Face from lores to lower half of the ear-coverts and a small, narrow line above eye brownish black, in good light showing a dull coppery-bronze sheen. A variable number of cinnamon feathers are typically admixed into darker plumage on the flanks and thighs. Underwing-coverts grayish black and the undersurface of the flight feathers of both the wings and tail are cinnamon-brown, the wings with pale buff trailing edge, whilst the shafts of tail feathers are paler than feather webs.

Aberrant Plumages

Frith (7 Frith, C. B. (1998). Aberrant plumages in some birds of paradise. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 42(2):439–443. Close ) reported on a “leucistic” fawn-colored variant known from two specimens.

Little known. Nineteen of 96 specimens examined by Frith and Beehler (8 Frith, C. B., and B. M. Beehler (1998). The Birds of Paradise. Paradisaeidae. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ) were molting (June to December), 89% of which were collected between July and November. In addition, of seven birds trapped at the Tari Gap, Papua New Guinea, in September, 57% were in molt, whilst of 19 individuals mist-netted in October, 58% were replacing their feathers (9 Frith, C. B., and D. W. Frith (1993). Results of a preliminary highland bird banding study at Tari Gap, Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea. Corella 17:5‒21. Close ). In January, on Crater Mountain, also in Papua New Guinea, four of six individuals of this species were in heavy molt (10 Mack, A. L., and D. D. Wright (2000). Notes on the Crested Cnemophilus macgregorii and Yellow-breasted Loboparadisea sericea Birds of Paradise. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 120(3):186–189. Close ).

Bill

Short, broad and flat along upper ridge of culmen, colored dark brownish black in males, but paler in females. Mouth pinkish in males, but green in females (8 Frith, C. B., and B. M. Beehler (1998). The Birds of Paradise. Paradisaeidae. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ).

Iris and Facial Skin

In males, the iris is bluish gray, but duller, typically brownish gray in female (and even paler, brownish to brown-gray, in subadult/immature male).

Tarsi and Toes

Purplish brown to brownish black in males, and brownish black in females; paler in subadult/immature males.

Linear Measurements

Overall length 24 cm (male); female very slightly smaller (8 Frith, C. B., and B. M. Beehler (1998). The Birds of Paradise. Paradisaeidae. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ).

Linear measurements of C. m. macgregorii, in mm, with means and sample sizes in parentheses, from Frith and Frith (11 Frith, C. B., and D. W. Frith (1997). Biometrics of birds of paradise (Aves: Paradisaeidae) with observations on interspecific and intraspecific variation and sexual dimorphism. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 42(1):159–212. Close ) and Frith and Beehler (8 Frith, C. B., and B. M. Beehler (1998). The Birds of Paradise. Paradisaeidae. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ):

Mass

C. m. macgregorii. Male specimens averaged 98 g (range 94‒104 g, n = 4), whereas the sole female specimen weighed 91 g (8 Frith, C. B., and B. M. Beehler (1998). The Birds of Paradise. Paradisaeidae. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ).

C. m. sanguineus. Mack and Wright (10 Mack, A. L., and D. D. Wright (2000). Notes on the Crested Cnemophilus macgregorii and Yellow-breasted Loboparadisea sericea Birds of Paradise. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 120(3):186–189. Close ) trapped six individuals: four males (adults and subadults) weighed 91‒96 g (mean 94.2 g) and two females both had mass 81 g.