Bird Of Paradaise

Part of a long-term project documenting these spectacular creatures, Tim Laman’s vertiginous image affords us a rare glimpse into this exotic world.

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PERCHED HIGH ABOVE A MIST smothered rainforest on a tiny island in the Arafura Sea southwest of New Guinea, this glorious bird of paradise is enacting a mating ritual that has gone largely unseen by human eyes for millennia. And it’s only thanks to the ingenuity of photographers like Tim Laman that we’re able to witness such events...

Your work is hugely cinematic and much more than ‘just’ wildlife photography...

I describe what I do as ‘wildlife photojournalism’ because my goal is not to just create pictures of wildlife, but to tell the stories of wild creatures and the places they inhabit. That is why my favourite type of image is one that shows an animal in its spectacular natural environment, like the one shown here. This speciality grew out of my background as a field biologist and my passion for exploration of the remote places in the world, and a desire to preserve them.

What’s the story behind this particular image?

This is a male greater bird of paradise perched high in the rainforest canopy on a remote island in Indonesia called Aru. During the breeding season, males come every morning to the same tree where they call, display and try to attract females. This photograph is part of a long-term project sponsored by National Geographic and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, documenting the spectacular group of birds in the bird of paradise family that includes about 40 different species, living in remote areas of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia.

How did you achieve such a close-up and spectacular viewpoint?