Bird-of-Paradise Magnificent (Cicinnurus magnificus)

As the name suggests, the Magnificent bird-of-paradise is magnificent indeed. It has one of the most complex plumage arrangements in the Paradisaeidae family. It reaches around 26-26.5 cm in total length, though the body is around 19 cm. The male has beautiful golden-yellow wings, which are overlapped by a sulfur-colored mantle, or cape, that deflect white a whitish glow, with deep red feathers bordered by black beneath the cape that form a semi-circle over the wings there are also scruffy brownish feathers on the sides of the cape. The head is fairly short it is a light brown in a scalloped pattern on the top that extends to the back of the neck, and a darker reddish-brown on the face and below the chin. It has a pale grey-bluish bill, dark brown eyes and a thin, white line that extend behind the eyes. Below is an entirely different story almost the entire underside consists of the large, iridescent green breast shield, which is finely decorated with lime-green to turquoise scale-like feathers that run down the middle of it. The plumage under the shield is blackish-brown. When fully extended, the breast shield is edged with shiny turquoise-greenish. The tail is blackish-brown with two long, sickle-like, partially curved central tail plumes that are colored light blue. As characteristic in the Cicinnurus genus, both sexes have colorfully blue legs and feet. The female is drastically different from the extravagant male she is light-brown above, including the tail (which lacks the long sickles). Her head is light brown, but the chin is intercepted by brown barring and creamy feathers that extend all the way to the rump. Her bill is the same color as the males', and she also has a white line extending behind the eyes.

Locality: 🔎🗺
Arfak Mountains, Vogelkop Peninsula, West Papua (Indonesia), New Guinea