Birds of Paradise
I sometimes amuse myself in idle moments by trying to compile a list of my ‘Desert Island Animals’ — those animals I would most like to watch (not eat!) if stranded on a desert island devoid of other life. It’s always very hard to choose, but collectively, Birds of Paradise often rank highly (choosing among the Birds of Paradise, however, is nearly impossible). So I was delighted to see some excellent footage of several species on the ‘Jungles’ episode of Planet Earth.
It isn’t just that they are brightly coloured: many birds are. Birds of Paradise1 have so many pop-up crests, chest shields, cloaks and deely-bopper-like head appendages that they can change the outline of their body completely. They are the Transformers of the bird world. As if that wasn’t enough, they often accompany this visual transformation with an eccentric dance and an unearthly sound.
The Superb Bird of Paradise (Lophorina superba) is a great example of this principle. At rest, it looks like a pretty black bird with a striking metallic turquoise chest, but when it displays, which you can see in this clip, it erects a set of feathers to turn its whole front elevation into a vertical elliptical shield, with a huge turquoise segment. Just in case that doesn’t get the female’s full attention, he throws in a clicking sound like someone trying unsuccessfully to light a gas stove, and bounces up and down in a sexy fashion. If you haven’t seen it before, you’ll be staring and yelling “Whaaat!”. Even if you have seen it before, you’ll be wondering (in the original sense of the word) how the heck you turn something bird-shaped into something that looks like the Superb Bird of Paradise when displaying. Birds of Paradise: Birds in Disguise.
1 That is, males do. The females are brownish and ordinary-looking. However, they are the architects of the males’ amazing displays through their choice of mates, so they are impressive in another way. ↑
1
Sorry - I couldn't resist:
"May the bird of paradise fly up your nose" "May an elephant caress you with his toes" "May your wife be plagued with runners in her hose" "May the bird of paradise fly up your nose"
by Jonathan Briggs @ 24/11/2006 9:16 pm • Permalink •
2
If you copy a verse/lyric on to the page, it seems to lose the carriage return and carries on on the same line, as it did on my previous posting; do you advise the manual insertion of returns when copying and pasting? Of course, had I realised it would happen, I would have remembered to review my posting.
by Jonathan Briggs @ 25/11/2006 6:55 pm • Permalink •
3
Jonathan Briggs: Hmm. Could be a cross-platform issue with the interpretation of carriage returns, I suppose, but it partly depends on the format of the web page you copied it from (if that's what you did). Anyway, yes - inserting returns is probably a good idea, or previewing to check whether it's needed.
by bsag @ 25/11/2006 7:10 pm • Permalink •
4
Oh I did, I did. Old though I am, I can't remember all the comedy lyrics from my childhood. Some; like "Don't jump orf the roof Dad", and "A Muvver was washink 'er baby one night..." I remember quite well; but the really serious ones like "Where do the flies go in the winter...." have slipped my mind.
If asked, I would have attributed "May the Bird of Paradise..." to the great Spike Jones, but I would have been wrong.
by Jonathan Briggs @ 25/11/2006 10:07 pm • Permalink •
5
Ooo, now you've opened the mental floodgates [continues the 'Don't jump off the roof Dad' line in her head]...
Young(ish) though I am, I know a lot of lyrics of comedy songs way before my time
The rest of the lines to "A mother was washing her baby one night" are on the tip of my tongue, too, and will bug me all night until I remember. By the way, you're right about line breaks: they don't seem to happen in blockquotes, even with breaks manually inserted. Hmm.
by bsag @ 25/11/2006 11:03 pm • Permalink •
6
Talking of watching nature in action:
Primrose, Primrose.
Sweetest harbinger of spring, a sunrise flower, A pocket Phoebus to warm the heart of passing child Lifting up its head, it shakes the dust of winter from its eye And turning now, towards the rising sun, Drinks deep the tears of night Soft lying on her golden petals.
The wind that chills a passing shrew Stirs the soft green leaves, shaking them awake, Lest they, sleeping still, miss the bright new dawn. The scuttling beetle, hard about its work, rushes by With scarce a glance, and burrows deep beneath The forest carpet to seek the treasures hidden there.
The soft grey dew, whetting lip of both mouse and vole Sharpening the senses, sending them scurrying About their business. A sparrow, head cocked, a beady eye Scouring bush and branch for tasty morsel. Spies a flake of bark, a trencher for the forest floor, Where a Robin, red napkin over his breast, breaks his fast. Before flying away, leaving only crumbs for ants to pick.
Thus begins another golden day Where the bluebells dance spotlit by sunbeams Peering through the coppice canopy. A morning like no other, Unique in its own way.
by Jonathan Briggs @ 25/11/2006 11:35 pm • Permalink •
7
Hmm as you say; copying from a document file shows the line breaks correctly, but after submission they disappear, odd. Rather ruins a poem though, shall I try manually inserting double returns.
Primrose, Primrose.
Sweetest harbinger of spring, a sunrise flower,
A pocket Phoebus to warm the heart of passing child
Lifting up its head, it shakes the dust of winter from its eye
And turning now, towards the rising sun,
Drinks deep the tears of night
Soft lying on her golden petals.
The wind that chills a passing shrew
Stirs the soft green leaves, shaking them awake,
Lest they, sleeping still, miss the bright new dawn.
The scuttling beetle, hard about its work, rushes by
With scarce a glance, and burrows deep beneath
The forest carpet to seek the treasures hidden there.
The soft grey dew, whetting lip of both mouse and vole
Sharpening the senses, sending them scurrying
About their business. A sparrow, head cocked, a beady eye
Scouring bush and branch for tasty morsel.
Spies a flake of bark, a trencher for the forest floor,
Where a Robin, red napkin o'er his breast, is breaking his fast.
Before flying away, leaving only crumbs for ants to pick.
Thus begins another golden day
Where the bluebells dance spotlit by sunbeams
Peering through the coppice canopy.
A morning like no other,
Unique in its own way.
by Jonathan Briggs @ 25/11/2006 11:42 pm • Permalink •
8
Ha. I love that bird. It's a damn pokemon!
by Damien Tanner @ 26/11/2006 9:22 pm • Permalink •
9
I thought the really interesting bit was in the little mini-doc afterwards, where they were saying that to get that footage, the poor guy spent 120 hours in the hide - which amounted to something like five or six weeks of filming time.
by Lyle @ 27/11/2006 1:08 pm • Permalink •
10
Damien Tanner: Yep
I also like the first clip, where the male is carefully wiping his display branch with a bit of leaf. Very house-proud, your Birds of Paradise.
Lyle: Yes, that was great. The cameraman was Paul Stewart - the same poor guy who got hospitalised by filming in the guano-infested bat cave in The Life of Mammals. Mind you, I could kill him for passing that virulent ear-worm (the 80s song, 'Bird of Paradise') on to me - I can't get the flaming thing out of my head now.
by bsag @ 27/11/2006 6:58 pm • Permalink •
11
Haha.. yeh it's great how it cleans up its little area to pass the time waiting for a mate. Obviously does the trick!
Did you catch the Planet Earth - The Future program on BBC4. Pretty interesting as well. I'm looking forward to hearing James Lovelock.
by Damien @ 27/11/2006 9:11 pm • Permalink •
12
Anyone knows who the singer of that song "Bird of Paradise" is ?
Thank you !
by Saf @ 10/04/2007 6:20 am • Permalink •
13
Bird of Paradise is sang or sung by Snowy White.
by Anthony @ 30/04/2007 1:58 am • Permalink •
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