Wilson's bird-of-paradise

These birds live on just two islands.

The islands are called Waigeo and Batanta. They are covered in forest.

Wilson's birds-of-paradise live on only two islands, Waigeo and Batanta, in the Raja Ampat island group off the west coast of New Guinea, in the Indonesian region of West Papua. Nowhere else in the world has them.

They live in forests on the islands' hills, usually between about 300 and 1,000 meters above sea level. The IUCN says they are reported to be frequent where the habitat suits them.

The IUCN describes Cicinnurus respublica as endemic to the Papuan islands of Waigeo and Batanta off north-west Papua, Indonesia, reported to be frequent in suitable habitat, and not a migrant. It occurs in hill forest above 100 meters, up to about 1,200 meters, and is thought to occur in some logged forests (Frith and Frith 2020).

The Australian Museum gives hill forests, rarely lowland and mid-montane forests, at 300 to 1,000 meters and occasionally 1,200 meters. Australian Geographic places the islands in the Raja Ampat archipelago off the west coast of the Bird's Head Peninsula.

Wilson's birds-of-paradise eat fruit.

They also eat insects and other tiny animals.

Wilson's bird-of-paradise eats mainly fruit and arthropods. Arthropods are small animals with jointed legs and a hard outer skin, such as insects and spiders.

It finds this food in hill forest, and the IUCN says it is thought to live in some logged forest too. Because so little is known about this bird, conservationists have asked for studies of exactly what kind of habitat it needs.

The IUCN assessment states that the species feeds mainly on fruits and arthropods, citing Plantema (2011). Australian Geographic calls it one of the most poorly known members of its family, and the IUCN calls it a poorly known species with no population estimate.

The IUCN also notes that the bird appears moderately common in logged forest on Batanta (Frith and Beehler 1998), and lists ecological studies of its precise habitat requirements and tolerance of secondary habitats among the proposed conservation actions.

The male cleans a patch of forest floor.

Then he dances there for a female. He puffs up his feathers and calls.

To attract a female, a male clears away fallen leaves and other bits from a patch of forest floor, making a clean stage called a court. When a female comes, he perches in front of her, hops from one upright young tree to another, and calls, chatters and buzzes.

He puffs up his shiny feathers to change his shape, flicks his head, stretches his neck, cocks his tail and sometimes opens his beak wide to show its inside.

Australian Geographic (2014) describes the court as an arena on the forest floor cleared of leaves and debris. In front of a female, the male flits between vertical saplings, calls, chatters and buzzes, distorts his shape by puffing up his iridescent plumage, flicks his head, stretches his neck, cocks his tail and sometimes gapes. The Australian Museum adds that the male displays alone from his terrestrial court.

Australian Geographic writes that the bird was named in 1850 and that it took almost 150 years for its courtship to be recorded in the wild, achieved by Sir David Attenborough, who scattered leaves on a male's court so that he came out to clear them and began to display.

These birds live in a very small place.

Losing forest is a problem for them.

Wilson's bird-of-paradise is listed as near threatened. Its whole world is two islands, so its range is very small, and nobody knows how many there are. Scientists think its numbers are slowly going down as forest is lost.

Logging has damaged forest on Batanta, and the bird has also been hunted in some areas for its skin. A nature reserve on Waigeo protects part of its forest.

BirdLife International assessed Cicinnurus respublica as Near Threatened for the IUCN Red List (B1b(ii,iii,v); assessed 3 August 2020, published 2021): a very small range, a likely moderately small population with no estimate, and a suspected decline from habitat loss, though the range is not yet severely fragmented. The assessment cites selective logging reported in northern Waigeo, a 1982 fire in the island's south-east, concerns over a cobalt mining concession, logging degrading habitat on Batanta, and hunting for skins in some areas (reported in 2000).

The species is listed on CITES Appendix II. The Pulau Waigeo nature reserve, set up in the late 1980s, covered 1,530 km², with reports that it may be substantially reduced, and a community conservation agreement launched in 2009 covered the 92 km² Orobiai River catchment on Waigeo.