Imagine creatures so beautiful
that people thought
they had come down
directly from heaven...
So striking
that the first europeans
to see them
thought they could only have
escaped from the garden of eden.
In fact, that eden was
new guinea --
one of the last
inhabited islands
to be explored by europeans.
And it remains
virtually the only place
where you can see these
wonderful creatures.
They were birds,
but unlike birds that anyone
had ever seen before.
They brought the image of beauty
almost to the edge of absurdity.
And their displays were even
more extraordinary and bizarre
than their appearance,
some of the most complex
to be found
in the animal kingdom.
They may NoT have come
from the garden of eden,
but they certainly deserve
the name
that the first european
scientists gave them --
the birds-of-paradise.
Yet much of what they do
is still unknown.
More than 150 years after
the first scientific
observations of these creatures,
in spite of innumerable
expeditions
and countless hours
of scientific observation,
we are still only
catching glimpses,
tantalizing glimpses,
of these heavenly creatures.
A new generation of scientists
and film crews
are attempting
to put that right.
But these remarkable birds don't
give up their secrets easily.
Another expedition
is setting off to look
for birds-of-paradise.
But this one is different.
This one is being mounted
by the new guinea people
themselves.
A new generation of local
conservationists
are concerned that paradise bird
numbers may be falling.
This team is led
by miriam SUPUMA.
With her is bird expert
paul IGAG.
Ah, I've got
my knickers wet!
Miriam's
love of nature began
in a small village school
in the mountains.
To follow that passion,
she learned english,
got herself to university,
and finished her ecology
field work
in australia.
Over the next three months,
she aims
to see and document
She has agreed to let
our camera crew go with her.
They are starting with
the smallest of the family --
the king bird.
Miriam searches for signs. You have to
know what to look for -- and she does.
You can see peck marks
on this fruit here.
That's his call.
But she just can't see him.
It tends
to like this area.
One of the reasons is because of
the light coming through.
They're show-off birds, so they
like to show their plumage,
and the light complements
their bright plumage.
The signs are good.
They decide to build a hide.
It must be big enough to seat
her and the camera crew.
But there's a problem.
A dead banana tree
blocks the cam era's view.
Miriam has it
gently pruned back.
She's confident
the birds will return.
This is the mating season,
when they become less shy.
She discovered this
when she was still a student.
Working in the forest,
early one morning,
she spotted a bird-of-paradise
high in the tree tops
and below it, another, preening
its plumes in the morning sun.
And then they displayed.
The sight changed her life.
On that day, I noticed
there were about six or seven
birds-of-paradise,
singing and dancing,
and it just continued
for five or ten minutes.
I stopped what I was doing --
I was measuring trees
at the time --
and I was looking at it,
just staring at it in awe.
Naturalists
fall in love with nature,
and then come back for more.
Seven years on, and experience
has taught miriam
that the best way to observe
the male king bird
is to find his display perch
and then wait for him to arrive.
Teaches you a lot of patience,
doesn't it?
And patience can often pay off.
Oh, there it is...
Wow!
The king bird.
It's facing that way,
with its back towards us.
You can see the red back.
It's gone up into the canopy.
He's a deep
chili-pepper red,
with a snow-white breast.
Two long quills
sprout from his tail,
each tipped by a green disk
like a coin.
That was a rare moment.
Oh, there, there it is again.
Wow!
Attenborough'. She's thrilled.
With other males calling
in the forest nearby,
miriam is sure that she's found
a good population here.
The male king bird will call
to the females in the area.
If none come, he will perform
without them.
After puffing himself up,
he flicks his quills above
his head and waggles them,
making the little disks
dance in the air above him.
He's still hoping
for an audience.
Undeterred, he ends
with a flourish.
He swings upside down
and locks his legs.
And then he turns himself
into a pendulum.
The king bird is a soloist.
The males of many other species
display in groups.
Th ese are
the greater birds-of-paradise.
Males assemble every day
in one special tree,
waiting for a female to arrive.
When one does,
they all snap into action.
And she selects
the one she prefers.
She's rewarded
with a one-on-one --
starting with pecks on the head.
And eventually she accepts him.
While all the males may appear
equally gorgeous to our eyes,
females apparently detect
differences.
What's more, they nearly all
mate with the same male.
By selecting the finest plumes
in this way,
the females have increased
the males' beauty
generation after generation,
and so brought these magnificent
dances into existence.
The spectacular beauty
of their birds
fascinates the people
of new guinea,
as I discovered back in 1957.
I knew that the bird-of-paradise
plumes were important,
and I quickly discovered
just how important.
The plumes are
the equivalent of money
and an essential payment
in the bargaining
that goes on between families
when fixing a wedding
settlement...
And when men want to dance.
And what I saw 5O years ago
is still going on today.
GOROKA town,
in the heart of the mountains.
It's festival time, and feathers
are still essential HEADWEAR.
Go with the photograph,
if you can. Or the --
It's a key moment in the year
for miriam's research.
Look at these
and then look
at what's
on the headdresses.
If you see something
like this...
The feathers of
many different species of bird
are used in the headdresses,
and the team want to find out
how many come from
birds-of-paradise.
These scenes are NoT
very different
from those I filmed myself
half a century earlier.
There were 500 of these men,
stamping up and down
monotonously and unceasingly.
And as I watched them,
I realized that
here was the reason
why no one
had brought us
birds-of-paradise.
Miriam wants to see
my footage from 1957
so that she can compare
the numbers
and species used by the dancers
then and now.
Each man was wearing
the feathers of 3O or 4O birds.
At this one dance,
we were seeing
the plumes of over 20,000
slaughtered birds-of-paradise.
The desire to possess
the beauty of the birds
is an ancient obsession,
still alive
in these tribal lands.
The island of new guinea
is huge.
A thousand miles long,
lying between australia
and the equator,
it was pushed up
from the bottom of the sea
way back in geological time.
A few land mammals
from australia
managed to get here --
including some marsupials,
such as the strange
tree kangaroo.
But there are no indigenous
carnivorous mammals here.
With fruit growing
all the year round,
this is indeed
a paradise for birds.
Then, some 30,000 years ago,
the greatest threat to their
existence walked in on two legs.
But today, there are people here
whose only aim
is to protect the birds.
Paul IGAG was brought up
on the coast, a fisherman's son.
Paul gave up the fishing life
to study biology.
He married a highland girl
and stayed up here
to pursue his love
of forest birds.
The call of the RAGGIANA
bird-of-paradise.
You can see a male up there
with full adult plumage.
He's trying to A1TRACT females.
Paul has seen many of the
forest's rarest bird species.
He builds platforms
in the canopy,
where he can sit quietly
an d wait.
Some birds are quite bold
and seem undisturbed
by his presence.
Others are much more wary,
like the magnificent
r*fle-bird of paradise.
Paul has been watching the birds
intensively for over 15 years.
His tracking skills are crucial
to the project.
Together, paul and miriam
start to identify
the bird populations
that may need protection.
Paul is taking miriam
to a remote village
southeast of GOROKA.
As I did on my own journey
to the interior,
they have to cross
high mountain ranges,
blanketed by forest.
Between these walls of rock
lie immense valleys,
like the WAHGI.
Hundreds of tribes
have lived on the island
for thousands of years,
separated by these barriers
of water and rock.
some as different
from one another
as english is to chinese.
The language of HAIA village
is spoken only here.
Even today, the only contact
between these people
and the outside world
is the plane that takes away
their coffee beans.
It's a warm welcome back
for paul.
He's been coming here
for the last few years
to help map tribal boundaries.
This forest
belongs to the HAIA people.
They have always been hunters --
but now they are helping
to record the rich wildlife.
One day, all this may become
a protected reserve.
For now, it's hundreds
of square miles
of untouched mountain forest.
For the villagers,
a wildlife reserve
could bring work and education.
There's a lot at stake.
The locals' hunting knowledge is
invaluable for the project.
Paul and miriam need to find
natural paths
and trees in fruit
if they are to locate
all the threatened species.
The th REE-foot-long
tail feathers
of the male black SICKLEBILL
are the reason why his kind is
almost extinct locally.
His plumes
fetch the highest prices.
But hunting here
has now been banned.
This trip is to find two special
birds-of-paradise
that are still
unprotected by law.
One of them
can sometimes be seen
in the very early mornings,
busy on the floor
of the darkest parts
of the forest.
Miriam is looking for
the PAROTIA bird-of-paradise --
a bird with
a very special dance.
The male PAROTIA
is most particular
about where he dances.
And this could be the place.
Paul is looking for the
magnificent bird-of-paradise,
a bird which also displays
close to the ground,
and is therefore
very vulnerable to hunters.
"Well, that's it," I said.
That's the display court,
and that's it.
We will NoT get him there. We didn't
want to spend a long time in that area,
because we want to come back
and see the bird,
so our presence there
might, you know,
spoil everything.
Six inches of rain can fall
in a single day
on crater mountain.
And during the downpours,
the birds-of-paradise
shelter beneath the leaves.
I was sitting
in the hide, thinking
we might NoT get to see anything
because it did rain.
Bloody mosquitoes.
And then I heard
a male PAROTIA.
There were other males calling,
as well.
Black as the blackest night,
he seems to absorb
all the light around him.
He is LAWES'S PAROTIA.
On his head, six strange
wire-like plumes --
each tipped with a black
pennant.
On his chest, a shield of
iridescent green and gold.
This is his court,
a stage he has carefully cleared
so that he can dance unimpeded.
Cleaning away last night's leaf
fall is essential housekeeping.
A female arrives.
She is comparatively drab,
with none of his flashy GLAMOUR.
She's touring all the courts
in the neighborhood
to choose a mate.
He sets about impressing her.
But one of his rivals
has called by, uninvited.
And he is followed by others.
More females arrive
and take up seats
for the performance.
[ Squawking 1
tensions rise,
but nobody dances.
[ Squawking 1
suddenly, one of the intruders
mates with a female.
Another male does the same.
The court has become
a free-for-all.
It's NoT what miriam expected.
They just went
straight into mating
without even any dance at all.
It's almost like skipping dinner
and getting straight
into dessert.
It would be nice to see them
actually dancing.
Sitting in the hide
for three or four hours
isn't fun
with all the mosquitoes,
and you'd like to go away
feeling that you've seen
the whole performance.
It is possible
that the birds
have been disturbed
by the presence of humans
in the forest around.
It will be several days
before they venture back
to try another filming session.
Paul has been searching for
the magnificent bird-of-paradise
for a few days now,
listening for their calls
and quietly
assessing their numbers.
He recently saw one
far from here
in the town market.
All birds-of-paradise
have a street value.
It's NoT ill*gal
for local people
to hunt them or sell them.
They're a way of making
some cash.
This is a magnificent
bird-of-paradise.
The hunters have
mounted the bird's skin,
complete with feathers,
on a stick,
ready to be stuck
into a headdress.
Another bird wanders by,
a pheasant pigeon,
feeding on the forest floor.
But this is
a female magnificent,
and here's another.
There's the female.
Things look promising.
They can only have come
for one reason.
A flicker of gold,
and there he is --
the magnificent
bird-of-paradise.
The male magnificent
is clearing away leaves
that have fallen on his court.
Doves and pigeons are helping
by picking up a few seeds.
He's stripping away moss
and leaves,
letting shafts of sunlight
into his display court.
He wants to look his best.
It's really interesting
to see
the magnificent
bird-of-paradise.
The feather itself is
quite bright,
and you can see it out there.
It's like a flame.
The stage seems
set, but there's a distraction.
Another male.
There's a standoff
between the two males.
Then the females take action.
[ Squawking 1
surprisingly, they charge
the intruder...
[ Squawking 1
and drive him out.
With his stage now to himself,
the court maker can give
the most interested female
all his attention.
He begins to transform himself
for her.
Puffing and pulsing
his breast feathers
creates a special effect --
an emerald-green,
heart-shaped breast shield
to dazzle her with.
Next to his eyes,
two tiny iridescent spots
flash at her.
You might think that
this little jewel of a bird
was one of a kind.
But he has a cousin
on an offshore island
that in isolation has changed
into a different species --
wilson's bird-of-paradise.
Both have those sickle-shaped
tail quills.
But his cousin has a bald head,
and his scalp is blue.
And whereas the MAGNIFICENT'S
back is a golden yellow,
his cousin's back
has turned red.
Different populations,
isolated in different areas,
are still evolving
different plumes
to match the tastes
of the local females.
We were thinking,
when is mating taking place,
when is mating
taking place?
It's sort of an activity
that probably
goes on for a while,
until only the birds know
when is the right time.
It's paul's
first sighting
of a magnificent
bird-of-paradise --
after 15 years
working in the forest.
Several days later,
miriam returns to the court
of the PAROTIA.
The male is back
on his dancing ground.
But the camera
can't get a proper view.
A log has dropped.
It's too late
to build another hide.
Instead, the crew
has to make adjustments.
The log is propped up.
There is a risk, of course,
that the court owner
will notice the change
and never come back.
But h e does.
It's a very promising start.
He removes little bits of litter
and prepares to perform one of
the most complex dance routines
in the whole bird world.
But now there's trouble --
an intruder, another male.
[ Squawking 1
but the owner of the court
is NoT put off.
And that is how it's
supposed to be.
Seeing the PAROTIA dance
gives miriam an insight
into the intimate rituals
of her people.
When I was
sitting in the hide,
I was thinking back to people
here in PAPUA new guinea.
They have these gatherings where
they go into a hut and sit in a row,
alternating
male-female-male-female.
They start singing and rocking
their heads back and forth...
It's like picking out
someone they fancy.
And I can understand why,
when they do
their traditional dance,
they put the feathers on.
Probably to them,
represents something, you know,
that's kind of sacred
they find in the forest,
and because
of the bird's behavior --
it's a very unique
and special bird.
PAPUANS
are steeped
in the mysteries
of their tribal past.
Nobody knows it all,
only that birds and humans
have been together
for thousands of years.
The desire to possess the beauty
of the birds
is an ancient obsession.
Everywhere, the paradise birds
are hunted
and their plumes treasured
and stored on the rafters
in houses throughout the land.
These precious feathers are kept
in bamboo tubes,
ready to adorn the bodies
of a new generation,
to help them begin a new cycle
of human life.
Miriam and her team
are counting feathers.
She wants clues
as to which birds
are suffering most from hunting.
They question
the dancers
about where and how
they got their feathers.
She's keen to know
about one species in particular.
What I have here
is the blue bird-of-paradise.
I've seen it worn
by some of the highlanders
on their headdress.
It's a very vulnerable bird,
and its feathers
fetch high prices.
It's been hunted heavily
in the past.
I haven't seen it display
in the wild,
and if I were,
that would be something.
In the meantime,
beliefs die hard.
But among them,
there are some that can
actually protect the birds.
There's a fear of angering
the spirit world.
And where spirits live,
hunters will NoT go.
Imagine a mountain
that is covered with forest.
No one goes up there.
People believe that
there is a spirit up there.
People don't touch
that mountain,
so that forest remains intact.
For us working in conservation,
it works perfectly.
It leaves that place unspoiled.
Early one morning,
paul and miriam begin climbing
up to part of the forest
where hunters fear to tread,
to look for two special
birds-of-paradise.
Different species live
at different altitudes,
depending on the rainfall
and the type of fruit trees
growing at different levels.
Even today, NoT a great deal
is known about these birds --
where they nest;
How they raise their young;
whether species overlap,
even interbreed.
Biologists are still trying
to find the answers.
Field work like this
brings its own delights.
I got my knickers wet!
It's a challenge
in itself to working --
being a researcher and working
in a remote area.
Sometimes you get to spend
months and months
out in the field,
and you miss
your comforts in life.
The tradeoff is that you
get to listen to birds singing
in the morning...
You wake up to that every day.
Miriam is looking
for the blue bird-of-paradise.
In undisturbed forest, she hopes
to find populations of birds
that will be
less wary of humans.
Paul is looking
for the superb bird-of-paradise,
whose breast feathers
are so sought after.
It calls in the dense
mid-canopy,
but it displays on
or near the ground,
and in open spaces.
A large fallen tree --
and there's
a hopeful sign here.
On one side,
some of the moss is missing.
Small dancing feet could have
ru BBED it away.
This could be a good place
to watch for the superb.
But the weather is NoT good.
[ Raining 1
In wind and rain,
birds, like people,
take shelter.
There is nothing to be done
except wait for a break
in the weather.
It's now getting late
in the birds' breeding cycle.
Their displays are becoming
less frequent and intense.
It's been six days
since the team
built the hide
beside the fallen tree.
Paul arrives in the rain
at 5:00 each morning
and leaves in the rain at noon.
And the fallen tree is just
remaining a fallen tree.
In a damp thicket, miriam is
keeping vigil for the blue bird.
Day seven, and finally
a visitor to paul's log --
but it's only a ground dove.
That's the call of the superb.
He's making an advertising call
from a high point.
And it's NoT far
from paul's hide.
That's nearby.
After many days
of solid rain,
the birds are quickly
becoming active again.
Miriam's bird, a blue bird,
has come to the edge of
the thicket and is calling.
I wonder if that's
the same bird
or two different birds.
Paul's bird
is calling nonstop.
And there he is.
There's that fabulous
green-and-blue breast shield.
He's trying to entice a female
down from the canopy.
But that's NoT her.
The call seems to irritate him.
And there she is.
He transforms himself.
A black cape appears
behind his head.
Then he moves into a trance-like
state and he dances.
Success.
And here
is that performance again.
All is NoT what it seems.
Those spots that look like eyes
are, in fact, feathers,
reflecting the dawn light.
That clicking noise is NoT his
wings striking the wood,
but quills flicking
against one another --
like the clicking of fingers.
Bizarre and beautiful.
No wonder his breast shield is
so treasured by human dancers.
It's day nine.
Miriam is still waiting
for the blue bird to appear
in the thicket in front of her.
He calls from nearby trees.
Could the hide
be putting him off?
At last, he comes...
And takes up his position
on his favorite branch
in his own special way.
Wow!
It's our lucky day.
I've never seen anything like
this -- this is crazy.
It's a performance
of such exquisite beauty,
it seems unfair that no female
is here to see it.
He's serenading
like a love-struck romeo,
but the balcony above is empty.
One can only sympathize.
Male birds-of-paradise have
played to empty seats
for hundreds of thousands
of years.
It's been their special
evolutionary destiny
to spend their lives
displaying their beauty.
It's what makes them
so extraordinary.
The next morning,
the male blue bird returns.
Suddenly he stops.
Miriam has seen something
off camera.
There's a female
in the tree above.
She's here, she's here!
And now she's
here, his performance changes.
His pulsing gives way
to a subtle low buzzing
that also th robs.
It's barely audible
to human ears,
but the microphone picks it up
loud and clear.
It's an unearth LY sound that he
only makes in her presence.
There's nothing like it
to be heard
anywhere else in the bird world.
The vibrating movement
and the puffing of the chest
to expose the black patch
was something intimate,
and it only did that
when the female was next to him.
Just looking at it was --
gave you
a sense of guilty pleasure
just looking at them,
it was something intimate
going on between the two birds.
Moving closer,
but without touching him,
the female seems to be studying
every feather
of his vibrating body.
Surely he's done enough...
But no.
And then all of a sudden
she just flew away,
and it was like, "ugh! Come on!"
For the male
to go through all that,
1T was excruciating,
just to put all that energy
into it.
And I think for him it was like,
"okay, maybe we'll try
another day."
Yeah.
Yet his effort
is the whole point.
Males can but try their best.
The rest is up to the females,
and it was ever thus.
The plaintive call
of the rejected male
echoes across the mountains.
These dances have been performed
here for MILLENNIA,
but for how much longer?
Miriam and her team have made
a good start on their project.
But much more work
needs to be done.
We need numbers.
In order to do that,
we need to do research,
so we need numbers
so that we can see how they are
fluctuating with time
and with
the different factors --
human population growth,
hunting disturbance,
forest clearing --
so we can understand their
conservation status better.
Meanwhile,
to preserve the feathers
that the dancers already have,
the team are handing out
mothballs.
These can be put inside
the bamboo tubes
in which the feathers are stored
and so save them from decay.
That should reduce the demand
for freshly hunted plumes.
If we were to lose
one of these birds, or two,
it could mean
the loss of something
that people hold close
to their hearts.
PAPUA new guineans
are now caring for their birds
in a new way.
The birds have survived
the tribal culture
for thousands of years,
but the world is changing
and their forest is changing.
Miriam and paul are starting
a new conservation movement
to ensure
that generations to come
will still be able to delight
in these astonishing
birds-of-paradise.
To learn more about what you've
seen on this "nature" program,
visit pbs.Org.
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