Riflebirds (Ptiloris): Characteristics, Behavior, Species, Reproduction | Sea Life, Islands and Oceania

RIFLEBIRDS (PTILORIS)

paradise riflebird

The genus Ptiloris consists of four allopatric species (occurring in separate non-overlapping geographical areas.) of birds-of-paradise. They are commonly known as riflebirds, so named for the likeness of their black velvety plumage to the uniform of the 19th century British Rifle Brigade. It is also said the bird’s cry is similar to a rifle being fired and hitting its target. Although this may be true with certain calls by certain birds such calls are rare. [Source: Wikipedia]

Males are plump, dark and velvety with iridescent blue throats. Females are brown and don’t have any iridescence. Males perform “Shape Shifter” displays in which they perch on a stump and “salute” with fanned wings. Females participate but no long-term pair bonds are formed. Males do not participate in parental care. [Source: Cornell Ornithology Lab]

Riflebirds are found primarily at low to mid elevations in coastal rainforests in New Guinea and Eastern Australia up to 1,500 meters (4,931 feet) in elevation. There are four species: 1) Magnificent riflebirds (Ptiloris magnificus), found in western New Guinea and the northern Cape York Peninsula of Australia; 2) Growling riflebirds (Ptiloris intercedens), also known as eastern riflebirds, found in easternmost Papua New Guinea; 3) Paradise riflebirds (Ptiloris paradiseus), found in New South Wales and central Queensland of Australia; and 4) Victoria's riflebirds (Ptiloris victoriae), found in northeastern Queensland. The four species are separated geographically which is convenient for field identification. +

Riflebird Characteristics

range of the magnificent riflebird in New Guinea and northern Australia

Riflebirds are medium-sized birds with a small head and a characteristic long slender decurved bill. Adults have short broad wings with rounded tips, short tails, and long sturdy legs with long powerful toes and hooked claws. As is true with most birds-of-paradise adult riflebirds are sexually dimorphic (differences between males and females). Adult males are entirely velvety black while females are mostly different shades of brown. They are also slightly smaller than males and have longer bills. [Source: Wikipedia]

All adult male riflebirds are similar in appearance: velvety black with lighter underparts, iridescence on the head, upper throat and centre of the tail, and yellow mouth and gape. The iridescence on the paradise riflebird is blue, on Victoria's riflebird blue-green, and on the magnificent and growling riflebirds are green, blue, and purple. Males do not achieve their full adult plumage until they are four to five years old.

Adult female riflebirds of the four species are also similar in appearance: all are largely brown above, have a prominent cream supercilium, and are whitish to buff with dark markings underneath. Female magnificent and growling riflebirds have thin blackish barring underneath, while paradise and Victoria's riflebirds have brown chevrons. Immature riflebirds resemble adult female birds.

Riflebird Behavior and Diet

Riflebirds are predominantly insectivorous (eat insects) but do fruit and seeds when they are available. They are mostly arboreal — in the for lower strata of the forest — but forage on or close to the ground. They spend a lot of time climbing up and down tree trunks and hopping along tree branches searching for insects and their larvae, which they extract from under the bark, in crevices, and epiphytes using their chisel-like bills. Riflebirds swallow fruit whole or hold fruit between their foot and a branch and tear pieces off with their bill. [Source: Wikipedia]

male Victoria's riflebird displaying

Riflebirds are mostly solitary. Small flocks occasionally form on fruiting trees when they are in season. Victoria's riflebird has been reported to feed on 19 species of fruiting trees and vines. Males may eat proportionally more easily-obtained and energy-rich fruit to allow them to display for longer.

When feeding their young, female riflebirds catch proportionally more arthropods than fruit to supply their growing young with foods rich in proteins and lipids. This has also been suggested as the reason for female riflebirds having larger bills than males. Among the reported to have been fed nestlings are crickets, grasshoppers, spiders, cockroaches, centipedes, cicadas, woodlice, beetles, and insect larvae.

Riflebird Reproduction and Courtship Displays

As is the case with other birds-of-paradise, riflebirds are polygynous, with promiscuous males mating with several different females if they can. Birds-of-paradise are famous for their elaborate courtship displays. Male riflebirds display alone and defend their territorially defend displaying sites during the breeding season. Other times of the year male riflebirds are generally tolerant of other riflebirds.

The breeding season for riflebirds is generally from June to February. Male Victoria's riflebirds have been reported to have home ranges of 0.6 to 2.8 hectares, with up to five display sites. Paradise and Victoria's riflebirds display on the tops of broken-off vertical trees or tree fern 10–20 centimeters in diameter and 10–20 metres high. Magnificent and growling riflebirds display on a horizontal tree branch or bough. Males may use the same display sites for many years in a row.

When displaying for females, male riflebirds appear to follow a set progression of vocalizations, postures, and movements During the first stage they call from their display perch and expose their yellow gape to attract the attention of females. Male paradise and Victoria's riflebirds make a noise that sounds like "yass", Male magnificent riflebirds produce a series of low whistles. Male growling riflebirds make growling sounds (the source of their name). After a female arrives at the display site, the second stage begin. This involves the male turning to face the female, raising his wings above his head to form a circle, again exposing his gape, and raising and lowering his body on his legs. If a female approaches, the male begins the third display stage directly in front her described as an "alternate wing clap". The male lowers one wing, hiding his head behind the other and then switching from side to side in quick succession. During this part of the display, male magnificent and growling riflebirds may start hopping sideways along the display branch. A female riflebird signals her receptiveness by briefly fluttering her wings. The male hops onto her back before copulation. Sometimes immature males try to display during the breeding season but their attempts are usually clumsy and uncoordinated.

Female riflebirds do all the nesting duties and have been observed defending their open-cut nests which are well-concealed and made from leaves and twigs, These nests have at least a 10-centimeter internal diameter and are lined with leaves, plant fibres, and rootlets. Nestlings hatch naked with their eyes closed and stay on the nest until fledging.

Magnificent Riflebirds

Magnificent riflebirds (Ptiloris magnificus) are birds-of-paradise that are widely distributed throughout lowland rainforests of western and eastern New Guinea and the northern Cape York Peninsula. For a long time they were placed in their own genus, Craspedophora, which is now a subgenus of Ptiloris. Magnificent riflebirds are widespread and relatively common throughout their range and thus are classified as a species of Least Concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. In CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild) they are in Appendix II, which lists species not necessarily threatened with extinction now but that may become so unless trade is closely controlled. [Source: Wikipedia, Australia Museum]

Magnificent riflebirds are medium-sized birds, Males are up to 34 centimeters long; female, 28 centimeters. Males are velvet-black in color and have elongated black filamental flank plumes, an iridescent blue-green crown, a wide, triangle-shaped breast shield, and on central tail feathers. They are also have a black curved bill, yellow mouth, blackish feet and dark brown irises. Females are brownish with dark spots and buff bars below with a white brow. Immature males resembles adult male excapt they have less tail plumes.

Magnificent riflebirds mainly eat fruits, insects and other arthropods. The breeding season is from June to February. Only females build and attend nests. Males are polygamous and perform solitary courtship displays on a 'dancing perch'. During these displays, the male fully extends his wings and raises his tail; and hops upward while swinging his head from side to side, showing off his metallic blue-green breast shield. Multiple females may observe these displays, and, if they like what they see they mate with the male. After this females build the nests, incubate the eggs and feed young without help from the male. Magnificent riflebirds are known to hybridize with Superb, Twelve-wired and Lesser Birds of Paradise.

Victoria's Riflebird

Victoria's riflebirds (Ptiloris victoriae) are known to the Yidinji people as duwuduwu. They are a bird-of-paradise endemic to the Atherton Tableland region of northeastern Queensland, Australia, from Big Tableland south of Cooktown southward to Mount Elliot (and some off-shore islands). They were discovered by Europeans by John Macgillivray for John Gould in 1848 and named after Queen Victoria. They are a fairly common species in its limited range and are classified as a species of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. [Source: Wikipedia, Australia Museum]

Victoria's riflebirds are the smallest riflebirds, measuring 23 to 25 centimeters in length. Males have an iridescent purple sheen plumage, which becomes more blue-green on the head and more bronze on the lower breast. Their throat is velvety black with a metallic green and blue triangular patch in the center. Females are brown with a pale eyebrow, and the buff underparts faintly barred with brown.

Victoria's riflebirds favor lowland to hill rainforests at elevations up to 1,200 meters (3,940 feet), but can also be found in eucalypt and melaleuca forests, wet sclerophyll and swamp woodlands, and occasionally in agricultural areas and mangroves. They eat insects, insect larvae, spiders and fruit and small animals. They peel fruit by holding the fruit with one foot and removing the skin with their bill.

The breeding occurs from at least August to February. At that time, males call females with their raspy 'yaars' and try to attracted them to the male's display post. If a female shows up, the call becomes becomes softer and more tuneful. During the courtship display, the male begins by erecting the feathers of his throat and sides to accentuate the bright colors of his plumage in the shafts of sunlight that pierce the dimness of the rainforest. He curves his rounded wings above his body and tilts his head back to expose his chin and throat to the light, and then moves from side to side in a fashion that looks sort of machine-like. If the female is still interested, the pair face each other closely, and each bird raises and extends its wings forward alternately in an increasingly rapid rhythm. Finally the male embraces the female with both wings, and they copulate.

Victoria's riflebird females usually lays two eggs each weighing approximately 10 grams on consecutive days. Only females build and attend the nest, which is about 20 meters off ground, in new foliage atop broken tree stump or branch.They incubate the eggs for 18 to 19 days, and brood and feed the nestlings for 13 to 15 days. Nestlings are born with their eyes closed and brooded for six to seven days until their eyes open. Young can thermoregulate and achieve pin-break on their primary and secondary feathers by day twelve. Nestlings are fed two to three times an hour, with the female away from the nest for longer with two nestlings. Victoria's riflebird fledglings become independent from their parent after 74 days. No known hybridization occurs as this species does not share its habitat with any other birds-of-paradise.

Growling and Paradise Riflebirds

Growling riflebirds (Ptiloris intercedens) also known as eastern riflebirds. They are medium-sized birds-of-paradise that get their name from the males’ breeding season call which sounds like growling. These birds are endemic to the lowlands of easternmost Papua New Guinea. They are fairly common throughout their range, and are designated a species of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Males are polygamous and perform their courtship display solitarily. Their diet consists mainly of fruits and arthropods. Male magnificent and growling riflebirds have more prominent grey-black underparts than the other two riflebird species. They also have black and yellow bands across their mid-breast, and long thin curved plumes from the lower flanks that extend to the end of the tail in magnificent riflebirds and just short of the tail in and growling riflebirds.

Paradise riflebirds(Ptiloris paradiseus) are medium-sized birds-of-paradise that measuring up to 30 centimeters long. Males are black with an iridescent greenish blue crown, throat and central tail feathers. They have a black curved bill, black feet, dark brown irises and yellow mouth. Females are olive brown in color, with barred blackish below with a long white brow above their eyes.

Paradise riflebirds are endemic to eastern Australia, occurs in rainforests of New South Wales and central Queensland. They mainly eat insects and fruits. During courtship displays, the male extends his wings and fans them upward with his head behind the wings to expose his metallic green throat feathers. He then moves his head from side to side with open bill to show off his bright yellow mouth.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org ; National Geographic, Live Science, Natural History magazine, David Attenborough books, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Discover magazine, The New Yorker, Time, BBC, CNN, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Wikipedia, The Guardian, Top Secret Animal Attack Files website and various books and other publications.

Last updated February 2025