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  In flight

Birds of Paradise

Superb Bird-of-paradise

Lophorina superba

• celestial
• 1221 km/h
• Least Concern

Males succeed in fewer than 2% of displays. The iridescent breast shield fans into an oval that looks like a cartoon face.

Habitat

Tropical montane rainforest and forest edge, mainly in the upper canopy of hill and lower montane forest

Fun fact

During courtship the male erects his velvety black cape and oval blue-green breast shield into an ellipse around his head, creating an uncanny "smiley face" silhouette that he bounces in front of the female — footage of the display (filmed by Tim Laman/Cornell Lab in the Arfak Mountains) went viral.

Range

Northwestern New Guinea — restricted to the Bird's Head (Vogelkop) Peninsula and Wandammen Peninsula, Indonesia

Diet

Mainly fruit and arthropods; occasionally larger prey such as frogs, small reptiles, and small birds

Size

0.26 m