Bronze Parotia

Arguably one of the more drab members of its family, the male bronze parotia has a blackish body in general with a conspicuous oily bronze sheen, more greenish in the neck area, that gives the bird its common name. The differences in the facial and head area is much more differentiated from the sister species; the frontal crest of the bronze parotia is mostly black with only a more reduced portion of white tips towards the center of it rather than an extended area of white found in Carola's; the inner "bowl" of the frontal crest is greenish gold. There also is a very thin, orange stripe that ends in a circle that encircles the eyes. Another characteristic of the genus are the six head plumes, anatomically called occipital plumes, long, wire-like feathers with black, spatulate tips. His chin feathers are greyish to rusty brown, based by a dull gold. These "whiskers" lead to the Parotia-characteristic, iridescent breast plate composed of scale-like feathers, each with a black, dotted center, and shine pink, orange, green, blue, yellow, gold, violet and orange, depending on the light angle; however, the breast shield is typically inconspicuous in most views. Like other parotias, the male has elongated flank plumes on his sides used in their displays; additionally, found only in Carola's and this species, these flank feathers are black and white, the white standing out on the body. It has a short, black tail, which is shorter than Carola's. It has a relatively robust, more prominently hooked, grey-black bill, light blue-greyish eyes surrounded by an orange ring, and grey-black legs and feet. The female is drastically different from the female, being light brown above with reddish wings, light brown tail, and a brown and white head. She is creamy below, covered by brown-blackish barring.