The Flame Bowerbird, Sericulus aureus is one of the most brilliantly colored bowerbird. The male is a medium-sized bird, up to 25cm long, with flame orange and golden yellow plumage, elongated neck plumes and yellow-tipped black tail. It builds an "avenue-type" bower with two side walls of sticks. The female is an olive brown bird with yellow or golden below.

The Flame Bowerbird is distributed and endemic to rainforests of New Guinea. This species is the first bowerbird described by naturalists. It was previously thought, based on male' beautifully colored plumage, is a bird of paradise.

There are two distinct subspecies of Flame Bowerbird, Sericulus aureus ardens from southwestern New Guinea with orange face male and the nominated form of northwestern New Guinea, Sericulus aureus aureus with black face and black throat male.

The Flame Bowerbird is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

References

• Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern

External links

• BirdLife Species Factsheet
• IUCN Red List