I like big birds and I cannot lie. Found in the tropical rain forests of Southeast Asia (mainly in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and parts of Australia), birds of paradise are quirky  crazy and cute as hell. These plumes of glory appear on the male birds which use their pizzazz to attract females. Having a good head of feathers is not enough in the birds of paradise kingdom; you’ve got to have the moves too. Check out these crazy characters.

Wilson's Bird-of-paradise (Cicinnurus respublica) courtesy Wikipedia

Butt feathers… its all in those butt feathers!

Courtesy National Geographic

Check out the eyebrows on this guy!

Courtesy National Geographic

Its one thing to have all  this pretty plumage, but the birds of paradise bring so much more to the table…. Check out this video of our birds in action.

*Featured image from Tim Laman Wildlife photojournalist. Order copies of unsigned prints here. Tim has an incredible collection of bird of paradise photos, see them here.