Question 1

True or false: Females perform a 'split-second' display where they invert upside-down on a branch.

Accepted Answer

True. Males, not females, do the upside-down display; females are dull-colored and observe without performing.

Question 2

True or false: This species was first described from a specimen collected by explorer Alfred Russel Wallace.

Accepted Answer

True. Wallace sent the first specimen to Britain in the 1850s, and it was named after his friend Thomas B. Wilson.

Question 3

True or false: The species is named after the American ornithologist Alexander Wilson.

Accepted Answer

False. It's named after Thomas B. Wilson, a British bird collector and financier of ornithological expeditions, not the poet-naturalist.

Question 4

True or false: Males have two long, wire-like tail feathers that curve into spirals at the tips.

Accepted Answer

False. The tail wires are straight and sickle-shaped, not spiraled; only the King bird-of-paradise has spiral-tipped wires.

Question 5

True or false: The male's display includes clearing a small 'dance floor' on the forest floor of leaves.

Accepted Answer

False. They display on a bare branch or vine, not the ground; other birds-of-paradise like the greater bird-of-paradise clear a floor.

Question 6

True or false: Wilson's bird-of-paradise has a bright blue bare crown that glows in UV light.

Accepted Answer

True. The male's vivid blue crown is actually structural color that reflects UV light, aiding in courtship displays in the dim forest.

Question 7

True or false: Wilson's bird-of-paradise is found on the main island of New Guinea, not just small islands.

Accepted Answer

True. It is endemic to the islands of Waigeo and Batanta off northwest Papua, not the New Guinea mainland.

Question 8

True or false: Females lay only one egg per clutch, which is typical for most birds-of-paradise.

Accepted Answer

False. Most birds-of-paradise lay 1-2 eggs, but Wilson's species typically lays two, not one.

Wilson's Bird-of-Paradise Trivia Questions