New Species of the Greater Superb Bird-of-Paradise and their courtship spectacle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWjx6oSgC4M

This amazing new species of the Greater Superb Birds-of-Paradise is called Vogelkop. The species became very well-known after a male's courtship dance appeared on David Attenborough's Planet Earth series. The species was discovered In 2016 when Cornell Lab of Ornithology researcher Ed Scholes and photographer Tim Laman were on a multimedia expedition for the Birds of Paradise project. The team observed and logged the physical differences between the greater superb and Vogelkop superb birds of paradise to confirm their differences and that they were separate species. They realized the birds had completely different songs and courtship dances. In the vogelkop's courtship dance they spread out their black cape until only a bright blue breast plate and blue eyes are seen in their surrounding darkness. The male dances around the female, making a tonal call and shuffling it's feet until mating is achieved. What's really interesting is according to the journal Nature Communications the bird's feathers absorb 99.95 percent of light! These cool and interesting birds originate from New Guinea. There will definitely be a search for more birds of paradise species in New Guinea's isolated and biodiverse forests.