King of Saxony bird-of-paradise Archives

Glowing Birds-of-Paradise — Male King Bird-of-Paradise (Cicinnurus regius)

Some of the most colorful and fascinating birds are the more than 40 species in the Paradisaeidae family, known as birds-of-paradise. They are more than just colorful; they are extravagant in their ornamentation and in their mating rituals. We have previously looked at the King of Saxony bird-of-paradise and Wilson’s bird-of-paradise. Studying these birds always reveals something new. In February 2025, a team of researchers published a new study about glowing birds-of-paradise.

Birds-of-paradise inhabit the rainforests of New Guinea and Australia, where they showcase their dazzling colors and remarkable features. Rene Martin, a University of Nebraska ichthyologist (a scientist who studies fish), specializes in deep-sea glow-in-the-dark fish. Some of her colleagues mentioned birds that seem to gleam, which led her to expose some specimens of birds-of-paradise at the American Museum of Natural History to UV light.

What Martin discovered was glowing birds-of-paradise. Thirty-seven species showed biofluorescence under ultraviolet light. Seeing them with human eyes was impressive, but for the specialized eyes of birds, it must be even more dramatic. Unsurprisingly, the males glow the most. For example, the entire belly of the male king bird-of-paradise seems to glow under UV light. Females exhibit some scattered and subdued glowing areas, which might help them camouflage in the sun-dappled rainforest. Meanwhile, the biofluorescence of the males could enhance their brilliant colors in the dark rainforest.

The discovery of these glowing birds-of-paradise reminds us that it’s easy to overlook what is right in front of us. Edwin Scholes, founder and director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Birds-of-Paradise Project, said, “Just when people think, ‘Oh, we must know everything there is to know about birds-of-paradise,’ we find something completely mind-blowing. There’s still a lot to be discovered.”

What new insights will science uncover about God’s creation in the coming days and years? The more we learn, the more we realize the truth of Romans 1:20, which tells us we can know there is a God by the things He has made.

Reference: allaboutbirds.org

Saxony is an area of Germany that hasn’t had a king since 1918. However, in the mountain forests of New Guinea, a bird has borne the name King of Saxony since 1894. It’s the King of Saxony bird-of-paradise (Pteridophora alberti).

The males display beautiful black and yellow colors. They also have two blue brow plumes attached to their heads that can be twice the length of the bird’s body. These birds are so strange-looking that when Europeans one for the first time, they thought it was a fake. Native people hunt the male birds for their prized plumes for ceremonial purposes. However, the King of Saxony bird-of-paradise is not easy to catch.

Adult males are highly territorial, guarding their domain while perched high in the tree canopy. Their unique courtship behavior consists of two parts. The first step is sitting on a bare branch and attracting females by singing a hissing rattling sound. It accompanies those noises by waving the long plumes independently or in unison. Next, if a female shows interest, the male will fly down to a lower branch to entice her. Then, the male will bounce up and down in front of the female while giving a hissing call. People find the entire ritual very entertaining.

Regardless of the threats they face from hunting, the King of Saxony bird-of-paradise is not endangered. That is beneficial for the ecology because these birds play a significant role in distributing fruit seeds on the island of New Guinea. Plants and fruits rely on animals to ensure their survival. In return, the plants produce fruit for the animals to eat in this marvelously complex system. Meanwhile, tourists to New Guinea enjoy these birds’ beauty and fascinating behavior.

The King of Saxony bird-of-paradise is a prime example of how each animal is unique, and the Creator has given us many species to study, enjoy, and protect. The interlocking system of birds, other animals, and plants shows evidence of a Creator who is an architect and engineer who has an appreciation of beauty and a sense of humor.

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Glowing Birds-of-Paradise

King of Saxony Bird-of-Paradise