The King Bird-of-
paradise is distributed throughout lowland forests of New Guinea and nearby islands. This so-called "living gem" is the smallest and most vividly colored among birds of paradise. The diet consists mainly of fruits and arthropods.
The male king bird of paradise can be spotted by his brilliant red coloring and two long, wire-like ornamental tail feather shafts, which are tipped at the bottom with a circular swirl of bright green feathers.
His underside is white, with a green band across the chest. The male also has a black spot over each eye. Both male and female have blue legs and feet; the female's coloring is much more subdued with an olive-brown back, head, and throat and a variegated buff chest. Both are about 6.3 to 7.25 inches (16 to 19 centimeters) in length, not counting the added length of the male's tail, which may be as long as the body.
King Bird of Paradise Dance
Male king birds of
paradise are polygynous, and once they mate they move on to attracting the next female, while the female goes on to lay her eggs and incubate and feed her chicks by herself.
Males perform their courtship ritual of persistent calling and displaying of plumage in solitude rather than in a lek (or cluster of other male birds of the species). During the display, they pose with their tail wires extended so that the green disks they are tipped with are over their heads. They may also hang upside down from a tree branch.