The breeding season for the Victoria’s Rifle Bird is between September and January. Courtship behaviour and displaying by juvenile male birds is in full swing at Paluma during the peak of the breeding season in early November. The elaborate courtship rituals are something to see!
Over several days, numerous young male birds have been sighted on ‘perches’ high in the rainforest canopy, carrying out their elaborate dance displays to attract the females. At one location on a suitable tree stump I observed three birds displaying in quick succession, one after the other on the same perch. The displays were accompanied by the distinctive raucous, raspy calls which were quickly answered by other birds throughout the nearby forest. The distinctive clapping sound made by the male birds rapidly alternating their wings during displaying was also heard from the surrounding rainforest.
Cliff and Dawn Frith have spent many years studying the courtship display and mating habits of rifle birds. Much of their research was based at Paluma. They describe the courtship display as typically having three discrete components:
- Calling – usually associated with the opening of the beak and exposure of the inside of the bright yellow mouth.
2. Circular wings and gape display
3. Alternate wing clap – this involves the rapid, alternating ‘clapping’ of the wings whereby the female is ’embraced’ within the male birds wings. The tempo of the wing clapping increases until copulation.
Just describing the remarkable courtship behaviour of the male rifle bird does not do it justice. The video below captures a short sequence of the typical display.
Text & Photos by Michele Bird. Video by Michele Bird & Jamie Oliver.