Magnificent Bird-of-paradise

The magnificent bird-of-paradise (Cicinnurus magnificus) is a species of bird-of-paradise. The magnificent bird-of-paradise is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. They are listed on Appendix II of CITES.

As the name suggests, the magnificent bird-of-paradise is magnificent indeed. It has one of the most complex plumage arrangements in the family Paradisaeidae. 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 genus Cicinnurus, 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.

It is sympatric with its congener, the King Bird-of-paradise, and hybridization has been noted several times. Over 20 specimens of these hybrids exist in museums, though no wild records have ever occurred. It was once even thought to be a separate species, called King of Holland's Bird-of-paradise ("Diphyllodes gulielmitertii"); this hybrid is scarlet red above, of the King, with the golden mantle cape of the Magnificent, also sporting two long tail wires more resembling the king's, but being partially curved at the tip with no green spirals that the king sports.