When, in September 2003, pho-tographer Tim Laman was given an assignment to photograph the birds-of-paradise, he knew it was a project that would require a sci-ence-based approach. He contact-ed Ed Scholes, an ornithologist and world authority on the behaviour and evolution of birds-of-paradise and in January 2004, he offered Ed the opportunity to accompany him as a scientific adviser and photographic assistant for all his field expeditions. Ed’s enthusiastic response was the be-ginning of a collaborative effort that changed both of their lives forever.By the end of 2006 they had com-pleted seven major expeditions and had photograped 22 birds-of-par-adise species in the wild. Tim’s as-signment was complete and despite many challenges along the way, he

had been successful at document-ing the displays of some species for the very first time. But neither he nor Ed were entirely satisfied. Af-ter all, they were over halfway to photographing all 39 known spe-cies of birds-of-paradise, something that had never been done before. Determined to reach this goal, they resolved to continue their work. Five years later, with support from the National Geographic Society, Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Conservation International, the Birds-of-Paradise Project was com-pleted. By the close of fieldwork in 2011, they had amassed the world’s most comprehensive collection of photographs, video and audio re-cordings, shedding light on some of the most intriguing yet scarcely documented birds known to science.

Ornithologist Edwin Scholes (left) and photographer Tim Laman (right), Tari Gap, Papua New Guinea, October 2011.

[Left] Male Lesser Bird of Paradise (Paradisaea minor) displaying flank plumes to attract females. West Papua, Irian Jaya, Indonesia.

Birds of Paradise Species

“The bird of paradise really deserves its name”only region where birds-of-par-adise exist - New Guinea (including its many satellite islands), and to Australia’s northeast, which has been con-nected as a landmass to New Guinea at different points in geological history.

Ed Scholes were captivated by birds-of-paradise and wanted to share their extraordinary and bizarre brand of beauty with the world through the lens of documentary photography and videography.Their journey took them to the

wrote Alfred Russell Wallace in 1869. He was the first European naturalist to see the courtship of these birds in the wild, a sight that he described as “most beautiful and most wonderful”. Like Wallace and many others before them, Tim Laman and

Journal Entry, Tim Laman6th September 2004Our first ever birds-of-para-dise field trip! Ed has already displayed his exceptional field skills by locating the display site of a Brown Sicklebill , one of the least-known birds-of paradise . But it ’s now the tenth day since we arrived and I still haven’t nailed a satisfactory image of a single species. On most assignments I would definitely be getting publishable photos by day ten . This is going to be the most difficult assignment I have ever worked on ...

All birds-of-paradise are primarily forest dwellers, most with an affinity for mountains. Approximately 70% of the birds-of-paradise are considered montane, living at elevations above 500 meters (1,650 feet). About 30% are considered high-montane (or cloud for-est) species, living at elevations between 1,500 and 3,500 meters (5,000 – 11,500 feet) above sea level. The sheer inaccessibility of their wilderness homes is one reason that the birds-of-paradise remain so poorly known, even today.

Wahne’s Parotia – Parotia wahnesi

The Wahne’s Parotia is found only within a restricted range of elevation (1,000 to 2,000 meters (3,300 – 6,600 feet) above sea level) in the mountains of the Huon Pen-insula, northeastern New Guinea. Two closely related species are also known to exist only at certain elevations in the Foja mountains and the Bird’s Head Peninsula of western New Guinea.

The first rays of sunlight pierce the blue-hued stillness of early morning in the New Guinea highlands. Somewhere out in that forested wilderness, birds-of-paradise are starting to display, but finding them was a huge challenge for Tim & Ed.

Leaves, twigs and forest debris swirl in the tremendous downdraft of a helicopter that has come to pick up Tim & Ed after two weeks of fieldwork on the Huon Peninsula. Their gear is piled high and ready to be load-ed at this helipad, carved out of an old, un-used garden plot in an otherwise uninhabit-ed area where roads are few and far between.

Journal entry, Tim Laman , 23 November 2004 Batanta

We’re on the trail of the Red and Wilson’s birds-of-par-adise, two species found only in the islands of Waigeo and Batanta, near the westernmost tip of New Guinea. We have relied on the local knowledge of researchers, missionaries, conservationists and eco-lodges to piece to-gether our fieldwork.I’ve been rising long before dawn , hiking to the dis-play sites for the Wilson’s bird-of-paradise and putting in 12- to 14-hour days in the field while Ed and Kris have been looking for the red bird-of paradise . They’ve managed to locate an impressive display lek, but this species displays high in the canopy and the tree they’ve have found is one of the tallest in the forest! The neigh-bouring trees are not tall enough to place my hide so I decided to climb the display tree itself.My bow was not powerful enough to send an arrow, trailing a line over the upper branches, so I climbed it in stages, targeting lower branches and working my way up. When I finally reached the level of the display branches, I could see that the crown was large enough for me to build a blind on one side and still be far enough away to photograph the birds without disturbing them. I measured the height with my rope – 50 meters (165 feet) – the highest blind I have built for this proj-ect.This morning I waited in the completed blind, mak-ing the long rope climb in the pitch dark of a moonless predawn . I watched the daybreak and waited for the birds to come. And they didn’t disappoint. On this rare, cloudless morning I have captured my first images of the red bird-of-paradise, illuminated by the rays of the rising sun (next spread).

Among most avian families - e.g. finch-es, sparrows, ducks, pigeons - the var-ious species within them appear most-ly similar. Yet the birds-of-paradise, despite being closely related, exhibit a nearly unbelievable degree of disparity, with species that are wildly and often unexpectedly different from one anoth-er. How could natural selection, with its emphasis on efficiency, even permit such overtly extravagant creatures as the birds-of-paradise to exist at all?

King of Saxony Bird of Paradise – Pteridophora alberti

The male King of Saxony Bird-of-Paradise sports two antenna-like plumes on his head, unlike any other feather known to exist. The wires, which carry plas-tic-like tabs,appear so absurd and unnatural that some early collectors thought they were fabrications, manu-factured to command a higher price in the plume trade.

Journal entry, Tim Laman , 19 July 2008, Halmahera, the Moluccas.

Another success! We have found the lek of a standardwing bird-of-paradise and completed our mission to document this bird – but it has not been without its challenges. We have been lying under mosquito nets on rough floorboards for days and, on the way to our current location , our boat broke a propeller and then its motor broke down . We drift-ed for hours while the repairs were made. Thankfully there was no swell , we were too heavily-loaded with all our gear on board to handle rough seas.It was here on Halmahera that Alfred Russell Wallace first discovered the standardwing bird-of-paradise, after not just weeks but months of difficult conditions. Between bouts of malarial fever, his ideas crystallised about the process of evolution by natural selection and he drew up the notes that became the basis of his famous letter to Charles Dar-win . Rather than just surviving, he had reached one of the greatest insights in history. We were humbled.

The standardwing bird-of-paradise- Semiopetra wallacii

The standardwing bird-of-paradise is a real outlier in terms of its behaviour and appearance. Separated for millions of years from mainland New Guinea, they are found only in the Moluccan Islands and have developed some totally unique features, like the two flag-like feath-ers, or standards, that emerge from the top of each wing.

The variety of feather structure among birds-of-paradise is simply unparalleled, con-taining some of the most striking examples of ornamentation in the bird kingdom. They be-came so sensational because of their function of attracting mates, highlighting how versa-tile a structure the avian feather has evolved to be.

[This spread] Two iridescent emerald-green feather “discs” decorate the long wiry tail of the male KIng Bird-of-Paradise. During coursthip displays, the male waves these above his head.

[Next spread] Other examples include the flank plumes of the Paradisaea species, the head wires of the Parotia species and the tail wires that give the twelve-wired bird-of-para-dise its name. Even more absurd are the long wires emerging from the head of male King of Saxony birds-of-paradise, or the “ribbons” and “standards” after which the ribbon-tailed astrapia and standardwing bird-of-paradise are named.An array of shapes, colours and textures work together to create feathers of seduction – im-possible for birds and humans alike to resist.

Ribbon-Tailed Astrapia – Astrapia mayeri

The tail of this species is a metre (3 feet) long, enough to wrap around the body several times. Yet astonishingly, the two central tail feathers are lost and re-grown annually, along with all the other feath-ers on the bird. The annual moult is timed to ensure that the feathers look their best for courtship display season.

Paradise Riflebird,Ptiloris paradiseus

All male birds-of-paradise are born with brown feathers and resemble females. They may not grow their elaborate male feathers for as long as five years and possibly more. This gives them a chance to observe and practice the mating behaviour of fully-feathered males without being regarded as competitors. The dif-ferences between a male riflebird in female plumage [above, with brown feathers] and full adult plumage [be-low with black feathers] are striking.

King Bird-of-Paradise Cicinnurus regius

Only a canopy platform, devised and built by Tim, allowed for this close-up of a King Bird of Paradise,Oransbari, Bird’s Head Peninsula, August 2009.

Journal entry, Ed Scholes, 3rd September 2009, Arfak Mountains

A momentous occasion! The courtship display of the Arfak astrapia has always been an unknown - never before seen or described. That is, until the first clicks of Tim’s camera shutter today! Not only did we see it, but we’ve got photographic documentation and com-prehensive notes. I had once speculated that the display of this spe-cies would be similar to that of the Huon Astrapia, which I had been fortunate enough to witness for the first time some years earlier. During courtship, the male rotates upside down with his body held hor-izontally beneath a branch and fans his tail to the female perched above. Today, when I saw the Arfak astrapia do almost exactly the same thing, I was de-lighted.From the start of this project, our aim has been to use the photographs, video and audio recordings for the advancement of scientific knowledge. One of the most exciting aspects of embarking on a career study-ing birds-of-paradise in the wild was that mysteries such as the courtship dance of the Arfak Astrapia was still waiting to be discovered. Filling in this blank is certainly one of the most significant scientific discov-eries of the project.

[Above] Black-billed sicklebill – Drepanornis albertisiThis is the first ever still image of the elusive black-billed sicklebill performing a courtship display. The male was practicing, since no female was present at the time. But his behaviour seems to indicate that the female would be perched above the male, as his display is oriented upward.

[Right] Bronze Parotia – Parotia berlepschiThe true geographic home of this species was unknown to science until 2005. It is found only at certain elevations in the Foja mountains it calls home.

Journal entry, Tim Laman , 30 June 2010 Nimbokrang.

Ants swarmed over me in droves as I tried to get comfortable on the small platform I had rigged high in a tree in the swamp forest of Nimbokrang. Yesterday, Ed spotted both a male and female pale-billed sicklebill feeding on a fruit-bearing vine in the adjacent tree . Birds are creatures of habit, so I’ve been waiting for this food source to bring them back. Not every food source or dis-play site has a convenient companion tree for positioning my canopy blind at the desired dis-tance away. So lots of scouting and climbing dif-ferent trees is required before I find the best view. Often I am left with less than ideal choices, such as today’s ant-infested tree . It was miserable and the ants kept crawling across my lens and view-finder. But the effort paid off. The sicklebills re-turned to feed and I ticked another species off my list!

The birds-of-paradise are mostly omnivores, eating a wide range of plant-based foods such as nuts and seeds, insects, other invertebrates and even small amphibians and reptiles. But fruit is the largest component of their diet and is abundant in the New Guinean rain forest. The ease of finding food is thought to have con-tributed to the evolution of the courtship ex-tremes seen among birds-of-paradise, which would require an investment of time and energy not possible under conditions of food scarcity. There are no primates or squirrels in New Guin-ea competing for access to fruit and nuts, nor are there any predatory cats or civets. So in many ways, it truly is a paradise for these birds.

[Above] Lawes’ Parotia Bird of Paradise (Parotia lawesii) female foraging for fruit in rainforest canopy, Tari Valley.[Right] Paradise Riflebird (Ptiloris paradiseus) feeding at fruiting Dysoxylum tree

Stephanie’s Astrapia Bird of Paradise (Astrapia stephaniae) feeding at fruits of Shefflera plant.

Journal entry, Tim Laman , 21 September 2010, Wokam, Aru Islands.

Aru Islander Eli Karey explained what I had to do: “Before you climb the tree, you must get some wax from your ear with your finger, and rub it on the tree trunk. You must do this so the birds will come!” So, at 04:30 this morning, before I climbed to the top of the tree in the pitch dark, I dabbed some earwax on the trunk. And Eli was right! After years of dreaming and several attempts at get-ting a wide-angle view of a bird-of-paradise displaying above the canopy, I have finally struck gold, here in the Aru Islands! (see next spread). I didn’t want to risk disturbing the Greater birds-of-paradise, probably sleeping somewhere nearby. So I disguised my cam-era in a wrapper of leaves, sewed together with rattan fiber and connected it with a cable to my laptop in a neighbouring tree, where I had built my blind. It was a race against time as I had to rappel back down and climb the neighbouring tree before the sky started to lighten .

With the cable plugged into my lap-top, I could see the live image from the “leaf-cam” and re-cord photos and vid-eos. I was incredibly excited as the sun rose and a bird ar-rived, spread his wings and started displaying, overlook-ing the misty canopy. As soon as I clicked the shutter, I knew I had a magical image (next spread). At moments like that, all the strenu-ous effort is forgot-ten .

Most bird-of-paradise species have ex-tremely ornate males that display complex and sometimes bizarre behaviours during courtship. These may include hanging upside down, turning from side to side, bouncing up and down, crouching, squat-ting, bowing, leaning deeply to one side or the other, expanding their feathers or wings into abstract shapes, tail swishing, head shaking and open-mouth “gaping”.

Magnificent Riflebird – Ptiloris magnificus

In an instant, upon the approach of a fe-male, this species transforms itself from a recognisable bird to an abstract ovoid shape, his head replaced by a blur of bril-liant blue, whipping vigorously from side-to-side. Many birds-of-paradise are mas-ters of transformation, becoming more like ornaments than birds. These species, nicknamed “shape shifters”, are usually black and emphasise shape and contrast in their displays, distinguishing them from the colourful and lavishly-plumed species.

Carola’s Parotia – Parotia carolae

Males of this species have one of the most complex court-ship displays known among all birds-of-paradise, shuf-fling forward and backward on the ground, wobbling, sway-ing, fluttering their wings and jerkily shaking his head from side to side. They emit various whistles and notes to accom-pany their movements and of-ten holds a yellowish leaf in his bill, the only known example of a bird-of-paradise using a “prop” for added ornamentation.

Twelve-wired Bird-of-Paradise, Seleucidis melanoleucus

[Above] Like all male birds-of-paradise this individual is highly territorial, fending off other males with the same calls he uses to attract females. This species always displays from a bare branch rising above the surrounding forest.

[Right] Females of this species seem to prefer being touched by the wiry end of the male bird’s yellow plumes. Here a male is swiping his wires back and forth across the face of a female.

Magnificent Bird-of-Paradise – Cicinnurus magnificus

The brilliant metallic green breast feathers of this adult male expand and pulse as he tracks the move-ments of a female along his display court. Even the legs and feet of this species have evolved into ornaments.To create a display site, the Magnificent Bird-of-Par-adise turns a patch of ground to bare earth, weeding and tending to it on a daily basis. Other species use fallen logs, or broken tree stumps, vines and branches.

Wilson’s bird-of-paradise – Cicinnurus respublica

The Wilson’s bird-of-paradise is found only in the forests of two of New Guinea’s satellite islands – Waigeo and Batanta, just west of mainland New Guinea. Evolving in isolation from its closest relative on the mainland, both males and females of this species have an unusual skullcap of bare blue skin, subdivided by a narrow web of tiny feathers. The males also have curly metallic-blue tail feathers, which they wave from side to side when displaying to females.With its peculiar shape, colours and behaviour the Wil-son’s bird-of-paradise demonstrates the variety among species for which the Birds of Paradise are renowned.

Tim’s sketch shows how he set up three cam-eras to record the display of the Wahne’s parotia from three different perspectives, in-cluding the view a female sees from her over-hanging branch. Sombom, Huon Peninsula, October 2011.

Camera A

Camera B

Camera C

Journal entry, Ed Scholes, 16 October 2011, Huon Peninsula.

Rain is pelting the tarp-covered roof of the hut our local field assistants have fashioned from sticks and small trees, tied together with lengths of vine. Tim and I are sitting on a bed of cut ferns with our damp feet nearly touching glow-ing embers. Starting the fire was the first thing the locals did upon arrival . During our weeks here, it will never be al-lowed to burn out. Draped all around us are shirts, raincoats and various types of camera coverings we’re trying to get dry. Above us hang half a dozen pairs of damp socks accumulated over several soggy days, and more wood, drying over the fire .Water is one of the biggest enemies to our success here . The rain can keep us camp-bound for days, photographic gear can sprout mould if not dried properly and foot rot awaits the

explorer who hikes in shin-deep water for hours. Malaria is a perpetual risk and it can take days to reach a town with doctors or medical supplies of any sort. A truly life-threat-ening condition requires using a satellite phone to request a helicopter evacuation to hospital , a lesson I learned the hard way when I came down with appendicitis. We were camped on the side of a remote mountain more than 10 hours on foot from the nearest village – which didn’t have a doctor any-way. It took five days to reach surgery.But even though we are far removed from civilisation , even though cell phones, radios and televisions don’t work out here, our experiences are ultimately so rewarding. The night skies are unaffected by light pollution , the natural sounds of the forest are undisturbed by human voices and machinery, filling our ears with the calls and songs of insects and birds. And somewhere out there, waits a bird-of-paradise waiting to be seen , marvelled at and documented.

The males of plumed bird-of-paradise spe-cies are perhaps the most extravagant and polygamous (mating with as many females as they can). The females are, by compar-ison, mostly brown and not decorous. By choosing the male which they perceive to have the greatest aesthetic qualities, female preferences have driven the evolution of male ornamentatio.

[Left] Goldie’s Bird of Paradise (Paradisaea decora) male displaying to female at lek, This species is only found on two islands: Normanby and Fergusson, off the eastern tip of New Guinea.

Splendid Astrapia – Astrapia splendidissima

From most vantage points, this males of this species look black to the human eye. But the right alignment between the light source and eye of the viewer reveals an astonish-ing iridescence few people have ever seen.

The females of plumed and non-plumed birds-of-paradise lay just one or two eggs per year, respectively. In all species, the females are single parents, rearing their young without any help from the male. This involves making nests from orchid ten-drils and vines, incubating their eggs and feeding the chicks. Because they can only rear 1-2 chicks per year, females are very selective about who they will mate with.

[Right] Long-tailed Paradigalla (Paradigalla carunculata) female sitting at nest.

Western Parotia – Parotia sefilata

Females of this species not only select a mate based on his plumage and complex dances, but also choose males with a cleared display court on the ground and a horizon-tal perch spanning the central part of the court, from where they can watch the displays.

Journal entry, Tim Laman , 5 November

2011, Tigibi , Tari area.

Ever since Ed showed me a video of a displaying Su-

perb Bird-of-Paradise I absolutely knew I had to shoot

some stills of it. Ed’s video was jaw-dropping, this had

to be one of the most incredible behaviours in the ani-

mal world.

The superb bird-of-paradise is widespread on New

Guinea and we’ve located displaying males in sever-

al locations on previous trips. I have built blinds and

spent weeks in them but I have yet to photograph a

display. Once, I spent six solid days in a blind in front

of a display site and only photographed one visit from

a male . He called enthusiastically, trying to lure a fe-

male . He even twitched his cape as if about to open it,

but then seemed to change his mind.

So when we located a perfect male Superb who was

very active, I was optimistic about getting the shot I’ve

waited eight years for. So I’ve devoted the last three

weeks to this task, the only time I’ve got left on the

Project.

The good news is that I’ve photographed a male dis-

playing. The bad news is that he faced away from my

camera the entire time.

Today was my last day on the Project. And no display.

Our male has many display sites and refuses to use the

same one twice! Yesterday my Huli guide, apparently as

frustrated as I was, told me “If this male does not dis-

play for you tomorrow I am going to shoot him with

my bow and arrow”. I certainly hope he didn’t do that!

Ceremonial use of bird-of-paradise feathers is common throughout the New Guinea highlands, where they are used by Huli tribes in headdresses and body decorations during cultural gatherings called ‘sing-sings’.

Tim Laman crossing a pole and vine bridge over a rain forest river in the Huli ter-ritory of Tari Valley, where he photographed the Blue Bird-of-Paradise.

The biggest threat to birds-of-paradise is not the traditional hunter in the highlands who covets their plumes for headdresses, or even the commercial hunter shooting birds to stuff and sell as decorations for homes and offices. The real threat is loss of habitat. All birds-of-paradise need forest to survive, but new roads are opening up vast areas to ex-ploitation: logging, oil palm plantations and large-scale mining operations are all on the increase. So far, New Guinea is relatively un-exploited. You can fly in a small plane for an hour over certain areas and see no signs of human presence – no roads, no buildings, nothing but forest. One of the reasons for this is that logging companies have long targeted the nearby islands of Borneo and Sumatra. But with those sources dwindling, pressure on New Guinea is increasing.

Splendid Astrapia – Astrapia splendidissima

From most vantage points, this species looks black to the human eye. But the right alignment between the light source and eye of the viewer reveals an astonishing iri-descence few people have ever seen.

Duration of project in years...................................................8Number of expeditions.........................................................18Number of field sites visited.................................................51Days on expeditions............................................................544Commercial flights taken...................................................200Bush plane/helicopter flights taken.....................................33Number of aircraft we flew in that crashed (later)..............2Boat trips taken......................................................................58Number of times adrift in broken-down boats....................2Photography blinds/hides built..........................................109Man-hours spent in blinds..............................................2,006Number of hours Ed spent in a blind to film a Riflebird display.................................................................................... 80Number of times Ed saw a Riflebird display (for 90 sec-onds).........................................................................................1Tree climbs made for photography...................................146Height above ground of Tim’s highest canopy blind (in me-ters).........................................................................................50Photographs brought back (after deleting rejects)....39,568

The Bird of Paradise Project in Numbers

Ed Scholes was first drawn to birds-of-paradise by a film called Attenborough in Par-adise, the result of a lifelong ambition by Sir David At-tenborough to document the splendour of the birds-of-par-adise on film. Ed promised

himself he would not only see a bird-of-paradise in New Guinea with his own eyes, but he would use his newly-acquired biology degree and desire for sci-ence-based exploration to answer the question “How did these birds evolve to be so beautiful, so diverse and so bizarre?” He could never have imagined that his pusuit of that answer would involve years of fieldwork and videography in New Guinea and the collaboration with Tim Laman that he describes as being “almost as extraordinary as the birds-of-paradise themselves”.

Tim Laman was first in-spired to work in tropical rainforests in 1987 when he read Alfred Russell Wallace’s The Malay Archipelago: The Land of the Orang-utan, and the Bird of Paradise (1869). Having completed a Ph.D in

Borneo, the “Land of the Orang-utan” itself, he went on to shoot several rainforest stories there for National Geographic, but he dreamed of someday investigating the other part of Wallace’s book title, “Bird of Paradise”. When his proposal to National Geographic to shoot a story on birds-of-paradise was accepted, his eight-year obsession began. As soon as he started shoot-ing some successful images of them he was hooked.

“What started out as a shared fascination for the birds-of-paradise evolved into an unprecedented opportunity to fill a gap in the documentation of our planet ’s biodiversity. We turned our passion for sci-ence, photography, exploration and media documentation into a comprehensive vision to fur-ther the advancement of knowl-edge and promote global appre-ciation of birds-of-paradise and New Guinea’s rain forest, with the hope of fostering their stew-ardship”.

- Tim Laman & Edwin Scholes

The fruits of Tim & Ed’s eight-year-long labours are showcased in the book Birds of Paradise: Revealing the World’s Most Extraordinary Birds published in 2012 by the National Geographic Society and in the National Geographic film Winged Seduction: Birds of Paradise. A travelling exhibition of Laman & Scholes’ work is currently on display at the Dennos Mu-seum Center in Michigan, USA.

Contact: timaldred@naturepl.com +44(0)117 911 4675Search: “Laman Birds of Paradise” at www.naturepl.com for over 300 images