Victoria's Riflebird Ptiloris victoriae Scientific name definitions

Male 25 cm, 91–119 g; female 23 cm, 77–96 g. Fairly large paradisaeid with fairly long, decurved bill and short tail. Male is mostly velvety jet-black with rich silk-like purple/magenta sheens above, crown feathers scale-like and intensely iridescent greenish-blue to blue-green, washed rich purple, especially on nape, mantle with green sheen, central pair of rectrices short and metallic bluish-green to greenish-blue; velvety jet-black chin to lower breast, central throat to uppermost breast with roughly triangular breast shield of intensely metallic purple-washed greenish-blue scale-like feathers, belly to undertail-coverts olive-grey to oily olive-green , typically with more bronze-yellow reflections than in L. paradisea, and some black feather bases visible posteriorly; iris dark brown; bill shiny black, gape pale yellow, mouth bright yellow or lime-yellow; legs black. Differs from similar L. paradisea mainly in smaller size, narrower and smaller breast shield, and often more bronze-yellow lower underparts, with lack of visible black feather bases on anterior part of abdomen. Female is smaller than male, with shorter wing (almost no overlap between sexes) but larger bill ; plumage very different, grey to grey-brown above, with rufous panel on outer wing, broad whitish superciliary stripe, whitish submoustachial area and chin, becoming buff on throat and upper breast, and rich cinnamon on remaining underparts, with small blackish chevron marks (except on lowermost areas), becoming more bar-like on sides, undertail-coverts paler; legs blue-grey to dark grey. Juvenile is like female, but underparts indistinctly barred, not spotted, brownish, bill pale bluish-grey, smudged dark grey, legs pale bluish-grey; immature male like female, gaining increasingly stronger and broader blackish flank barring until first sign of adult male plumage attained; subadult male variable, like adult female with few feathers of adult male plumage intruding to like adult male with few feathers of female-like plumage remaining; central rectrices decrease slightly in length with age.

Atherton Region of NE Queensland (from Big Tableland, S of Cooktown, S to Halifax Bay, and some offshore islands), in NE Australia.

Lowland to hill rainforests, also adjacent wet sclerophyll woodland dominated by eucalypts (Eucalyptus) and swamp-woodland dominated by paperbarks (Melaleuca); also landward edge of mangrove communities and gardens. Sea-level to 1200 m.

Mostly sedentary; during winter months some adult males move out of rainforest into adjacent wet sclerophyll woodland, typically frequenting ecotone to W of Great Dividing Range rainforests.

Fruits (mostly capsules); insects, including cockroaches (Blattodea) and cicadas (Cicadidae), and spiders (Araneae), centipedes (Chilopoda) and millipedes (Diplopoda); also flower nectar. Probably more arthropods than fruits overall, but relative proportions vary seasonally. Nestlings fed with animal items (up to 80–90%) and fruits. Forages mostly in canopy, also close to and on forest floor. Takes arthropods by gleaning and probing. Up to four or more individuals may gather at a single fruit resource during about May–Jul (outside display season).

Male advertisement call an explosive loud "sssssshh" or "yaaaass", in S of range typically immediately repeated, but in N (on Atherton Tableland) usually a single note; often responds immediately to advertisement of other males. Aggressive call to conspecifics a sharp repeated "kek". A parent gave repeated soft low "kuk" on nest rim, followed by a "bubbling" form of such notes when flying from nest and from nearby perches.

Season at least Aug–Feb; egg-laying late Aug to early Jan, and female with fledged young observed late Nov and Jan–Mar; males with moderately to greatly enlarged gonads Jan, Apr, Jul and Sept–Oct and females Oct–Dec; display season Jul–Dec, post-moult displays (particularly by young males) during Mar–Apr. Polygynous, solitary promiscuous male advertisement-singing/displaying from traditional arboreal perch; female builds and attends nest alone. Adult male sedentary and territorial with regard to traditional display site during breeding season, display perches consisting of top of broken-off vertical tree or tree-fern stump several metres to many metres tall (higher and larger, bare, living or dead tree boughs occasionally used); courtship displays involve a static posture, dance, leg sway, wing-clap, wing movements and movements of pectoral shield, and mouth gaping; display elements include a Circular Wings and Gape and an Alternate Wings Clap; females attracted by advertisement calls which are accompanied by conspicuous wide gaping to expose bright yellow mouth. Nest has outer structure of Pyrrosia ferns (some with associated mossy growth), within this a substantial cup-shaped structure of dead leaves, with shallow egg-cup lining of fine woody tapering stems of vine flower inflorescences, many nests with sloughed snakeskin on outer rim; built 1·5–20 m above ground, often atop broken-off tree trunk with prolific new foliage, in vine-covered tree or in centre of tree-fern crown, sometimes in pandanus (Pandanus), fan palm (Licuala) or cordyline (Cordyline); nest-site habitually reused. Clutch 1–3 eggs, mostly 2; incubation period 18–19 days; female ceases brooding of chicks when latter 8 days old, feeding rates higher for brood of two than for one, nestling period 13–15 days; one fledgling was fed 74 days after leaving nest. A wild male lived for more than 15 years.

Not globally threatened. Restricted range species: present in Queensland Wet Tropics EBA. CITES II. Common throughout small range; reported as more abundant on Bloomfield R during Jul–Jan than at other times, but this may reflect relative vocalization levels and hence conspicuousness. Adult males estimated to occupy area of c. 2 ha or more. Range has contracted owing to habitat loss; for example, much rainforest on Atherton Tableland has been destroyed. Can be a pest in soft-fruit orchards and is sometimes persecuted as a result. Despite this, the species appears not to be facing any significant threat.