..a Bird of Paradise, at least.
The silhouetted individual is a Red Bird of Paradise, which was displaying/dancing in the rainforest canopy high above us, late in the afternoon of 14 October 2024, on Waigeo – the largest of Raja Ampat’s four “main” islands.
The silhouetted circumstance “robbed” the bird of its brilliant colours – or, more correctly, it robbed my eyes’ and my camera of their ability to discern those colours; we were looking up, straight into the sun.
Even so, you can surely see why humans have for so long hunted these amazing birds, for their feathers and plumes.
Birds of Paradise deserve their name, but they are very “difficult” critters, photographically speaking.
Later, multi-image posts will contain some “better”, more colourful photos of this and one other of the three Bird of Paradise species we saw in Raja Ampat.
However, you should keep your expectations low; none of my photos fully “capture” just how extravagantly plumed and colourful these birds are.
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