Western Parotia Parotia sefilata Scientific name definitions

Male 33 cm, 175–205 g; female 30 cm, 140–185 g. Large parotia with medium-length tail. Male is entirely velvety jet-black , head adorned with erectile triangular frontal crest of elongate finely pointed silver feathers atop forecrown, rest of crown with dark coppery-bronze sheen, broad nuchal bar of intensely iridescent blue scale-like feathers anteriorly and violet-purple to red-purple feathers with magenta hues posteriorly; from behind each eye, amid ear-tuft of elongate narrowly pointed feathers, three long erectile wire-like bare occipital plumes with near-circular spatulate tips of normal feather webs; upper­parts, including upperwing and tail, with dull but rich coppery-bronze sheen; chin and throat velvety blackish with slightest iridescence of coppery bronze to rich purple, grading into otherwise discrete breast shield of large intensely iridescent scale-like feathers; remaining underparts jet-black with plum-purple sheen; iris cobalt-blue with pale yellow outer ring; bill shiny black, mouth greenish-yellow; legs purplish lead-grey. Female is smaller than male (almost no overlap in wing length), lacks head plumes and iridesence, head blackish with slight chestnut lustre, broad pale greyish submoustachial stripe flecked blackish-brown, bold blackish malar stripe (sometimes incomplete at rear), very faint superciliary stripe of tiny pale greyish-buff central feather streaks, upperparts, upperwing and tail olive-brown, paler chin, throat and underparts regularly barred blackish. Juvenile is like female, but with rufous-red outer and inner edgings on flight-feathers and upperwing-coverts; immature male like adult female; subadult male variable, like adult female with few adult male feathers intruding to like adult male but with few feathers of female-like plumage remaining; male tail length decreases slightly with age, shape of outer primaries of immature male almost normal, but in earliest subadult plumage outer two primaries modified (as in adult male).

Vogelkop (Tamrau Mts, Arfak Mts) and Wandammen Peninsula (Wondiwoi Mts), in NW New Guinea.

Middle montane forests and adjacent well-established secondary forest with abundant small saplings; 1100–1900 m.

No information.

Fruits and arthropods; relative preference for each not known. Probes for arthropods in bark and epiphytes on underside of branches. Joins mixed-species foraging flocks.

Harsh "gned gned" or "gnaad gnaad", and other notes like those of a cockatoo (Cacatua). Adult male at court gives loud squawking notes, but those in female-like plumage only quiet high-pitched mewing sounds.

Few data. Male gonadal activity indicates breeding about Jul–Jan; display season early Aug to late Oct. Polygynous, with presumed promiscuous males seasonally maintaining terrestrial courts, but not known if solitary or in exploded lek; female builds and attends nest alone. Male clears leaves and debris from ground court c. 2 m in diameter , with branches up to c. 3–4 m above it, branches often stripped of leaves by males for display perches ; courtship involves static and leg-flexing postures with complex movements of flank plumes, pectoral shield, mantle cape, nuchal crest and occipital plumes; display starts on horizontal perch, male hopping sideways back and forth along perch while repeatedly flicking wings half-open and fanning tail, before hopping to court to perform complex dance involving Upright Sleeked Pose, Initial Display Bow and Ballerina Pose phases, similar to those of P. lawesii; female solicits by squatting low on perch, with beak agape, and fluttering wings. No information on nest and nest-site, eggs, incubation and nestling care.

Not globally threatened. Restricted range species: present in West Papuan Highlands EBA. CITES II. Few recent data. Common in S Arfak Mts (at Ditschi and Siwi), and even more so in Wandammen Peninsula (Wondiwoi), in late 1940s; common in Arfak Mts mid-Aug 1995. Probably not currently at any risk, but limited distribution dictates need for monitoring.