Comments on: the birds of paradise

the birds of paradise

sarastro — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 12:02:21 -0800

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has released a trailer for their upcoming documentary, "The Birds of Paradise" (SLYT)

Wikipedia article for Paradisaeidae

By: HuronBob

HuronBob — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 12:15:19 -0800

It takes a heck of a trailer to make me anticipate an ornithology documentary, but this one managed to do so... for those that didn't read the description on youtube: "a documentary on the National Geographic Channel (airing at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT November 22)", there's also a book being released. Thanks for the post!

By: Kabanos

Kabanos — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 12:19:46 -0800

The hopping "face" created by the (male?) bird at about 4:25 is hilarious!

By: PuppyCat

PuppyCat — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 12:26:46 -0800

Amazing. I needed this today.

By: rtha

rtha — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 12:32:25 -0800

Oh heck yeah.

By: Atreides

Atreides — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 12:55:52 -0800

I'd be more excited if it were about birds that aren't covered in every documentary produced in the last few years. Gimme something about robins, cardinals and chickadees!

By: idiopath

idiopath — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 13:03:47 -0800

Atreides: "Gimme something about robins, cardinals and chickadees!" ITYM tits or GTFO

By: idiopath

idiopath — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 13:06:04 -0800

There is a moment around 3:00 where the male is doing a display and the female comes closer, where they narrator is asking how this could have possibly evolved, and my internal narrator gave the female a voice that said "AWWWW yeah sugar, shake it, I like the way you move that thang". I imagine what is going on is more complex than just sexy sex dances, but that has to be the root of it.

By: Atreides

Atreides — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 13:07:39 -0800

ITYM ~~tits~~ titmice or GTFO

By: gingerbeer

gingerbeer — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 13:12:56 -0800

Show us your tits!

By: gingerbeer

gingerbeer — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 13:16:16 -0800

And thanks for posting this -- I can watch these birds pretty much endlessly.

By: maryr

maryr — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:20:42 -0800

The black one reminds me of a Kabuki dancer.

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:39:42 -0800

This is great. Although—and I realize this should go without saying—do not read the comments if you value your sanity.

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:42:26 -0800

Also, this video is a goldmine for "Haters Gonna Hate" gifs.

By: ShutterBun

ShutterBun — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:45:01 -0800

Most of these fellas also showed up in the " Planet Earth" documentary a few years back (in fact some of the shots seem almost identical). The bouncing, clicking smiley face is definitely a crowd-pleaser.

By: caryatid

caryatid — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 17:37:18 -0800

A FB birder friend of mine works with Cornell, and she posted this link today: Lecture and New Book Chronicle Epic Quest for Birds-of-Paradise. It has links to video clips of several BOPs that are in the documentary.

By: peacay

peacay — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 17:55:34 -0800

Thanks for this. It reminds me that these are David Attenborough's favourite animals and he wrote the foreword to a new limited edition of Sharpe's Birds of Paradise from the Folio Society earlier this year. Here's the (great) video of Attenborough receiving and going through his copy of the book.

By: Ghidorah

Ghidorah — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 20:21:19 -0800

Animals, and the adorable videos they inspire, have a remarkable way of cheering me up. Birds of Paradise, though, help restore a sense of wonder that I often find dulled by everyday life. I mean, these birds, they're like the design equivalent of letting children design a car by committee. "No, it needs to have three rockets, and five wheels, and don't forget the giant tail fin!" It's like the nature design committee exiled all the weirdos to one small area and forgot about them. In the meantime, with no supervision, the weirdos just went nuts. Although I'm pretty sure if I greeted Mrs. Ghidorah at home tonight by stretching out my arms, hopping side to side, and occasionally thumping my butt on the floor, she might not find it as charming as I would hope.

By: JiffyQ

JiffyQ — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 23:48:04 -0800

This is great. Thanks for this. As a thought experiment, I was wondering how a snarky Mefite would comment on this video.

By: idiopath

idiopath — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 06:11:43 -0800

Ghidorah: "Although I'm pretty sure if I greeted Mrs. Ghidorah at home tonight by stretching out my arms, hopping side to side, and occasionally thumping my butt on the floor, she might not find it as charming as I would hope." true story: the loss of my virginity was immediatly preceded by hiking up my pants to show off my bright blue socks, and a demonstration of the blue-footed-booby mating dance.

By: Ghidorah

Ghidorah — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 06:42:54 -0800

I think I've learned too much today.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 13:54:26 -0800

Endangered Species Spotlight: the ʻĀkohekohe

By: maryr

maryr — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 21:59:59 -0800

That's a well accessorized bird. The color of those bands is just spot on.

By: Cold Lurkey

Cold Lurkey — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 19:46:37 -0800

To quote Mefite you're a kitty, I'm so glad sexual selection is a thing. I've watched all Attenborough Birds of Paradise docs available, and just this trail has far better resolution and footage then any of them. Excited to see the whole.