Things are always fascinating when it comes to bird-of-paradise, and twelve-wired is one of the best examples. There are so many cool things about this bird, and even the name gets many people’s attention. Let’s take a look at some more information below and see if you find this beautiful bird interesting too.
1Appearance

Being medium in size, a twelve-wired bird-of-paradise is around 33 centimeters long, excluding the wire-like filaments. Males and females are similar in size but they look different. The half top part of a male is black while the other half is bright yellow, separated by a thin green band. It has a red iris and a long black bill, but the most eye-catching feature is the twelve blackish filaments that resemble wires. Instead of a tail, they have these filaments that bend back near their bases. Meanwhile, the female is just a rufous-brown bird with black-barred buffy underparts. Both sexes have strong feet with large pink claws that they use for hunting.
2Behavior
The duty of all male bird-of-paradise is to display dance to attract the female and convince her to accept him. As for the twelve-wired, the display dance is called a “wire-wipe display”. Solitary males display at traditional perches that are usually on tree stumps. A male will approach the female, peck at her, and pulsate his breast shield. Doing so shows his flank plume and bare pigmented thighs. He then sways from side to side, hopping from foot to foot while using his 12 wires to make contact with her. The male simply brushes those wires across the female’s face and foreparts to impress her. Once the mating is complete, the male will leave while the female builds and attends to the nests alone.
3Feeding & Habitats
The twelve-wired bird-of-paradise are omnivores, and their diet consists of arthropods and fruits along with frogs, insects, and nectar. These beautiful birds inhabit flat lowlands, secondary forests, and swamp forests of Indonesia and New Guinea. The males are highly territorial and each of them makes sure he is a kilometer away from other males. This is to ensure that he has enough space to perform is courtship displays without interference from other males.
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