Twelve-wired Bird of Paradise (Seleucides melanoleuca)

Adult males of this long-billed, short-tailed bird are spectacularly plumaged in iridescent purple-black and sulphur-yellow, with long "wires" curving up from the flank plumes. The females are drab by comparison, as with all the Birds of Paradise that breed polygamously.

The males are rarely observed except during the courtship season, when they display from bare branches high in the forest. A displaying male erects the feathers of his upper breast into a large black "shield", edged with iridescent emerald green feathers; at the same time, his elongated yellow flank plumes are expanded and the 12 wires extend forward. The few nests that have been found were built in the tops of trees and each contained a single egg.