The growling riflebird (''Ptiloris intercedens''), also known as the eastern riflebird, 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 generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

bird of the family

Paradisaeidae The birds-of-paradise are members of the Family (biology), family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. The majority of species are found in eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and eastern Australia. The family has 45 species in 17 genera. T ...

. The growling riflebird is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to the lowlands of easternmost

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. The male is

polygamous 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, it is called polygyny. When a woman is married to more than one h ...

and performs its courtship display solitarily. The diet consists mainly of fruits and

arthropods Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

. A common species throughout its range, the growling riflebird is evaluated as being of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

on the

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological spe ...

. It is listed on Appendix II of

CITES CITES (shorter acronym 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 inte ...

. The common name "riflebird" comes from the likeness of their black velvety plumage to the uniform of the British Army

Rifle Brigade The Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army formed in January 1800 as the "Experimental Corps of Riflemen" to provide sharpshooters, scouts, and skirmishers. They were soon renamed the "Rifle ...

Description

The male is a velvet black and green

bird-of-paradise The birds-of-paradise are members of the Family (biology), family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. The majority of species are found in eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and eastern Australia. The family has 45 species in 17 genera. T ...

with black flank plumes, black curved

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Pl ...

, yellow mouth, blackish feet and dark brown iris. It has an iridescent greenish blue on its crown, throat, breast shield and central tail feathers. The female is a rufous brown bird with barred buff below. Its appearance resembles, and it is sometimes considered to be a subspecies of the magnificent riflebird. It is differentiated by the lower breast and abdomen coloration, the male's distinctive growling song, and feathered culmen base.

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet
Ptiloris Birds of Papua New Guinea Birds described in 1882 Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN Endemic birds of Papua New Guinea {{Paradisaeidae-stub