Australian Geographic — May-June 2017

44 Australian Geographic

Guinea, it is widely distributed in hill forests, but in Aus-

tralia the species is confined to the northern reaches of

Cape York Peninsula, in far north Queensland. In sea-

sonally wet parts of the Cape, the magnificent riflebird

is restricted to narrow corridors of gallery rainforest near

rivers, where it is hard to spot and can be quite rare. In

other parts of the cape, such as Kutini-Payamu (Iron

Range) National Park, it is more abundant and easier to

encounter. Here, twitchers can find it by listening for the

powerful whistles of the male, which signal its presence.

Victoria’s riflebird is the best known of the Australian

trio. Its homeland is among the parks and reserves of the

Wet Tropics, between Townsville and Cooktown, in

north-eastern Queensland. Because this area is popular

with tourists, there are places where Victoria’s riflebirds

have become used to visitors and it’s not uncommon to

see them looking for an easy meal near cafes, ecolodges

and other tourist hotspots. On one of our field trips,

Tim and I saw this species display in a rainforest patch

that was literally in the backyard of a colleague and friend.

Despite being less well known than the Victoria’s, the

paradise riflebird of northern NSW and south-eastern

Queensland is actually the easiest to spot. After several

days of photographing a handful of these cooperative

birds in the D’Aguilar Range – including a couple of

young males in their ‘stripy brown pyjamas’ taking turns

practising their awkward displays to one another – Tim

and I found ourselves filled with envy. We began joking

about how we might convince our families to move to

Australia from the USA so we too could have birds-of-

paradise in our backyards.

But fantasies aside, our time with the Australian

birds-of-paradise gave us hope for the future of this

incredible family of birds in their natural stronghold, the

wilds of New Guinea. There, they face the imminent

threat of forest loss as the country’s cities and towns

expand. Australia’s riflebirds show us that it is possible

for humans and birds-of-paradise to cohabitate.

It gives me hope that in New Guinea these remark-

able birds will survive into the future if intact forests are

preserved, cut forests are allowed to regenerate and devel-

opment is sustainable. AG

SEE Tim’s images of New Guinea’s birds-of-paradise

online at: http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/issue138

In New Guinea, birds-of-

paradise face forest loss as

citiesand towns expand.

A male Victoria’s riflebird in full display is a splendour to

behold. Because this species is found in many parks and

reserves in north-eastern Queensland’s Wet Tropics, it

is likely to be the most readily viewed bird-of-paradise.

SCIENTIFIC NAME:

Ptiloris victoriae

QUEENSLAND

Victoria’s riflebird

Ptiloris victoriae