The eastern parotia (''Parotia helenae''), also known as Helena's parotia, is a medium-sized

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...

of the bird-of-paradise

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

, Paradisaeidae,

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

to mountain forests of the Bird's Tail Peninsula (Papua New Guinea). It is approximately 27 cm long. The scientific name honors Princess Helena Augusta Victoria, the third daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. As with other species of '' Parotia'', the male is

polygamous Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married ...

and performs spectacular courtship display in the forest ground. The

clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that engages and disengages power transmission, especially from a drive shaft to a driven shaft. In the simplest application, clutches connect and disconnect two rotating shafts (drive shafts or line shafts ...

contains 1, maybe occasionally 2 eggs; one that was studied was 38.4 x 27.8 mm in size (Mackay 1990). It eats mainly fruit, seeds and

arthropods Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chitin, oft ...

. A common species throughout its limited range, it is listed on Appendix II of

CITES CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...

Description

Its appearance resembles

Lawes's parotia Lawes's parotia (''Parotia lawesii''), is a medium-sized (up to 27 cm long) passerine of the bird-of-paradise family, Paradisaeidae. It is distributed and endemic to mountain forests of southeast and eastern Papua New Guinea. Occasional ...

, of which it is sometimes considered a subspecies. It differs in the male frontal crest's and the female's dorsal plumage colors. The male has an iridescent golden green breast shield, elongated black plumes, three erectile spatule head-wires behind each blue iris eye and golden brown

nasal Nasal is an adjective referring to the nose, part of human or animal anatomy. It may also be shorthand for the following uses in combination: * With reference to the human nose: ** Nasal administration, a method of pharmaceutical drug delivery ** ...

tuft feathers. The female is smaller than the male, with brown plumage and black barred below.

References

* Mackay, Margaret D. (1990): The Egg of Wahnes' Parotia ''Parotia wahnesi'' (Paradisaeidae). ''

Emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus '' Dromaius''. The ...

'' 90(4): 269
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External links

Parotia Birds of the Papuan Peninsula Birds described in 1891 {{Paradisaeidae-stub