Exploring the World of Birds of Paradise (Full Episode) | SPECIAL | Nat Geo Animals

Narrator: Shape shifting. Color shaking. Dancing, singing, dazzling, sex crazed transformers. The fabled birds of paradise. Cut off from the modern world, virtually unknown. Until two modern day explorers set out on a decade-long quest. Tim Laman: We have to try to outsmart them. Ed Scholes: If we succeed in getting the moment of transformation that's gonna be the Holy Grail. Narrator: A quest to find and photograph all 39 species of these spectacular creatures. Tim Laman: Kind of a narrow spot to get through here. Narrator: And to capture some never-before-seen firsts for science. Tim Laman: No Way! Narrator: National Geographic photographer Tim Laman and Cornell University Ornithologist Ed Scholes have travelled the jungles of New Guinea for nearly a decade. It's an assignment turned obsession. A search for one of nature's Holy Grails, images of every species of this flamboyant family of birds. Iridescent feathers, outlandish shapes, precision choreography, extreme ornamentation, cacophonous flapping, male birds of paradise whose adaptations have only one purpose, to attract a mate. New Guinea, where birds of paradise live, is one of the most remote places on Earth. Tim and Ed have taken over 20 expeditions to more than 50 field sites, suffered countless days in the rain-soaked jungle and one burst appendix. They've survived it all, plus dubious flights, perilous boat rides, grueling hikes. Tim Laman: Here's where we go left. Narrator: And the jungle pulsing with poisonous life. Tim Laman: You gotta keep your eye out for them. So when you're bashing through the forest you gotta pay attention or you might end up with one of these on your face. Narrator: They've filmed a lot of birds but they still have a few adventures left on their birds of paradise bucket list. Their first target, the Wahne's parotia is a creature that transforms from bird to ballerina in the blink of an eye. They live way up in the Saruwaged Mountains. Tim Laman: Getting into this location has turned into a bit of a transportation nightmare in the last few days. Ed Scholes: The plane that we were counting on flying in on had a small incident at an airstrip and had a crash landing. Tim Laman: So we decided to go with the helicopter option. Narrator: When they finally do take to the air, they'll be heading for a landing pad they're not even sure exists. Ed Scholes: So we have no idea whether it's even a helipad that a helicopter can land on. Narrator: They can only safely fly in clear weather. Ed Scholes: Mountains here are really, really steep. Some of these ridges are over 6,000 feet. No pilot in Papua New Guinea flies when you can't see. Narrator: Fortunately, the next day breaks clear. They're flying into one of the least explored places on Earth, from the air there isn't a road in sight. Tim Laman: Wow, what a day compared to yesterday. Narrator: Birds of paradise are also cut off from the world. The definitive field guides have countless entries that read, simply "unknown." Tim and Ed are filling in the blanks. Tim Laman: It's not so much just being the first, but just the fact that it hasn't been done. This group of birds hadn't been documented in the wild. Ed Scholes: They're a biological wonder of the world. It's like, "Why the great pyramids? Why Machu Picchu?" It's like the avian equivalent of looking at animal life on another planet. Narrator: Or perhaps from many planets, each species more incredible than the next. Parotia are famous for the intricacy of their dancing. Their choreography is part Riverdance, part OCD, this one, Carola's parotia, draws an endless "figure 8" in the air. Strange, but the females seem to like it. Deciphering what the male's behavior means to the females is like learning another language; this mission is all about cracking the code of the Wahne's display. Ed Scholes: Real excited to be back, to see this species of Parotia. I spent so many years studying them and it's nice to be back. They're kinda like old friends for me. Narrator: On one of these ridges, is a field camp Tim and Ed will call home for the next three weeks. If they can land. Ed Scholes: Rory we're just looking for a cut clearing on a ridge. Rory: OK. Ed Scholes: And hopefully they get the helipad for us. Rory: Yeah. Ed Scholes: It is the moment of truth. Tim Laman: Yeah really. Ed Scholes: Let's hope, let's hope, let's hope. Tim Laman: I see smoke dead ahead on the ridge. Right there. Ed Scholes: Yeah, you can see the bamboo there. Tim Laman: Yes. Ed Scholes: What do you think Rory? Rory: Yeah, no problem. Barely a challenge. Tim Laman: That's what we like to hear. We've got a helicopter only a "SAT" phone call away and a few thousand dollars. Narrator: Parotia territory at last. Ed Scholes: The parotia is one of the quintessential shape shifting species. Narrator: When the male displays he tucks his wings away and pops out specialized breast feathers. kinda funny and comical to watch. You can't help but to think of them as like a little person in the forest, wearing a skirt, dancing around. Narrator: There are five species of parotia and Tim and Ed have photographed them all. But this time they want to change it up. They're trying to film a male parotia from above, from the perspective of the females, who are the arbiters of what makes a good display. Ed thinks the aerial view will be very different from anything they've ever seen. Ed Scholes: The way the females look at 'em is from above looking down. So the females see this really distinct circular shape that's made by the skirt. Alright, this is the camp; they've already got the old tarp up. Narrator: Ed's command of the local language, pidgin, comes in handy. Ed: [Speaking Pidgin]. Narrator: As their porters make camp, they strike out to scout display sites. Ed Scholes: There's a couple of old ones right over here in this thicket. That's what I first noticed. I think it's here. There's like a sink hole and this one's a fresh one because look it's got fresh bird poop. Or, as they say in Pidgin, "Peck Peck." Narrator: This bare patch is the male's display territory, it's called a court. Parotia are neat freaks, keeping their courts spotless and clear. So Ed sets up a tiny camera, then scatters some leaves. It's his sneaky way of telling if the males are using this site. Ed Scholes: Really drives them crazy to have those leaves down there, they're very fastidious. So when he comes by here and sees those he won't be able to help himself, he'll come right down and toss them all off the court. Tim Laman: Holy cow, man. We can almost get the looking down view from up here. Ed Scholes: Yeah. Narrator: If the site proves to be active, it's perfect for the overhead shot. Tim Laman: This distance is very safe for parotias. I mean, I think that's a wide enough view right there if we just clean out that vine. This one's totally doable. Narrator: Capturing the female perspective on film would be a scientific breakthrough and a dream come true for Ed. Ed Scholes: If we succeed in especially getting the moment of gonna be the Holy Grail. Narrator: They check the spy camera and sure enough it doesn't take long for the parotia to arrive. Ed Scholes: That's the leaf we put down. Tosses it. Yeah! Yeah, he's coming like right up next to the GoPro. Narrator: He's so intent on cleaning up; he doesn't even notice the camera! Tim Laman: No way. Ed Scholes: Are you kidding me? Tim Laman: Wow, we actually got an awesome GoPro shot of a parotia! That's hilarious. I can't believe that worked, he totally didn't care at all. Whoa, this guy is big. Ed Scholes: That tail is long. Tim Laman: That tail is long, that's a huge bird. I forget how much bigger. Ed Scholes: This is a lot bigger. Tim Laman: This parotia is than some of the others. Narrator: Tim plans to position three synchronized cameras around the display area. Ed will control two from his laptop, while Tim shoots the third from a hidden vantage point. Tim Laman: I just need to get a bunch of bush rope and start lashing together a ladder. Narrator: Thankfully the forest itself is as good as a hardware store. Ed has been studying parotia displays for years, their dances are the most complex of any bird of paradise and he knows every move they make. Ed Scholes: In pretty much an instant, he'll do a bow. And he basically then fluffs out those long feathers of the breast and flanks and that's when he forms them around his body and they go back behind his back and cover his wings and when he comes up and he's taking these 3 long head wires from each side. And as he starts walking forward with his skirt out he's shaking them back and forth, waving them in front of his head. Then he begins waggling his neck and head back and forth like that. None of it really makes sense unless we can interpret it from the perspective that the females are seeing him. Narrator: For birds of paradise the females are the evolutionary decision makers. Tim Laman: OK, it's 12:15; we're getting this all set up during this, sort of lull in the middle of the day. So if the bird starts coming back for some afternoon activity we'd be ready to go. Narrator: It's a complicated rig. Ed Scholes: Perfect Ethernet hiding material. Narrator: Custom built cables, specialized software and electronics. Ed Scholes: Alright I'm going back to set up the computer. Narrator: And none of it very jungle-friendly. Ed Scholes: (Bleep). Slippery. Great. All right, so it's working, the cameras are on. And I think we're in business. Narrator: Tim settles into his blind, hoping their camera-ready parotia will make another appearance. Ed Scholes: They seem to be everywhere but on the court where we need them. [thunder] Tim Laman: Well, I'm still sitting here in my blind. Think I'm gonna call it quits pretty soon. Hey it's getting pretty dark over here, I think I'm gonna start packing up. Ed Scholes: Okay, let me pack this up. Alright, calling it quits. Tim Laman: Well. Ed Scholes: Too much good luck to get it all in the first day. Tim Laman: Yeah. Asking a bit too much indeed. Narrator: Early the next morning they're back at it. Ed Scholes: I had to stop by Starbucks on my way back to work. Narrator: Miraculously, the parotia also shows up for the morning shift. Tim Laman: I got it, I got it on both. Ed Scholes: Yeah, it's great. It's going to be fun to review this. Tim Laman: Yeah great, alright. Yeah, we got one! Narrator: The question is were all three cameras rolling? Ed Scholes: Alright, moment of truth here. Lookin' left, lookin' right. Bow. Yeah, his tail. OK he's coming out of the ballerina, turning around. Tim Laman: It's a nice view of his wires. Ed Scholes: Oh and he goes under there. Tim Laman: Wow! That flash is amazing. Ed Scholes: Yeah, yeah it is amazing. Narrator: This is even bigger than Ed expected. Ed Scholes: Wow, you know what, so you can even see the flash, so he's got this other ornament on the back of his head that you almost never see and it flashes right on the opposite side. Tim Laman: Oh look, he's. Ed Scholes: Yeah, he looks so different. Tim Laman: Yeah, that's nice. Narrator: He knew the view from up top would be different, but these iridescent flashes are a shock. It's like the male is sending out secret love messages that only the female above him can see. Tim Laman: Usually, we always filmed it from a blind on the ground so that flashing really is designed to face upward to flash to the females so now that we're really looking down on it we're really seeing that flash flash! That's just really cool to see it from different angles. Narrator: With all three cameras synched up, they can see the top-down shot in context. Tim Laman: Nice. Ed Scholes: Man, those head wires look great. He kind of does that tick, tick, tick exaggerated. Tim Laman: Ah, look at that flash, that is like so cool. Blue and yellow. Ed Scholes: Yeah, from this perspective you're kind of getting both colors at once, you know? That's good. Alright nice work. Narrator: It's the unknown that makes so fascinating. Tim and Ed were the first to discover that one species, the arfak astrapia, performs its displays upside down! as close as you get to a-ha moments in science anymore. Narrator: And the arfak isn't the only one to turn the mating dance on its head. The blue bird of paradise, the red bird of paradise and the emperor. This footage of the emperor displaying is the first ever recorded. But the birds rarely make it easy. Ed once spent 80 hours waiting for just 90 seconds of magnificent riflebird display. Tim has climbed nearly 150 trees over the years. His highest perch was 165 feet in the air, getting to it was like climbing a 15 story building. Sometimes he gets room service for lunch. Tim Laman: Alright. I got the full Indonesian lunch here. I got rice, I got vegetables. I got noodles. Quite a lunch for up in a tree, huh? Narrator: But the next bird on their list could be even more challenging. Tim Laman: So we good to go? Seems like it. Tim Laman: Man it's pouring, huh? Narrator: To reach it, Tim and Ed are heading out to sea. They're now on the trail of the rare goldie's bird Goldie's have an incredibly limited range, they only exist on two tiny islands off the eastern coast of New Guinea. genus paradisaea, these are the ones that are on the flag and have the most sought after plumes for human interest, especially New Guinea Culture. Narrator: The plume trade impacted many bird of paradise species at the turn of the century, but the striking feathers of the genus paradisaea were particularly prized. Their numbers have rebounded since then, but they're still hard to find. Tim Laman: Alright, see if I can get on this sucker without falling in. It's like the wettest start to an expedition that we've ever had. Narrator: Goldie's bird of paradise display in the canopy. Tim will have to build himself a camouflaged blind high in a tree. He's had success in the canopy with the greater bird of paradise using a multi camera rig. Tim Laman: This is the main display perch. And there's my blind over there. And right here is my leaf camera. We put a whole SLR here inside these leaves. Alright, let's hope this works. Narrator: Tim monitored the leaf cam with his laptop, while he shot with a second camera from the blind. so we are good to go. Now we just need the birds. Narrator: First the males show up and ruffle their plumes to attract the females. Once the ladies get there, the males get really excited. Tim Laman: It's actually working! It's kind of unbelievable. Narrator: This is called the "flower pose." If the female likes what she sees, she'll stick around for some feather tickling and eventually mating. The innovative leaf cam captures a never before seen perspective of the mating ritual. This time, they're hoping to combine all of their successful tactics. They need to get their cameras up in the canopy to capture the experience of a female goldie's. But first they have to reach them. Tim Laman: We're headed into some dark weather over there. Ed Scholes: As we came out of the mouth of the bay it just kept getting choppier and choppier so now we were in pretty much serious downpour rain, as well as rough seas. Narrator: This passage to the goldie's home, Fergusson Island is notoriously deadly. Ed Scholes and Tim Laman have got to cross the open straight, motor between the islands and around the tip of Fergusson, then hike inland to a tiny village that will be their home base. Scouting reports from the island have confirmed that the birds are there. Ed Scholes: So we're not going to have to spend any time when we first get there searching for the birds and trying to find the display tree. Narrator: It's legendarily inconvenient to work in New Guinea, but the same impenetrable jungles, far-flung islands and extreme elevations that make passage nearly impossible are also what has given rise to these otherworldly creatures. Little Jurassic Parks, pocket environments cut off from each other and the outside create fertile ground for small populations of birds to evolve extraordinary characteristics. Tim Laman: Hey we made it. Narrator: They've survived the passage, but there's still a rough road ahead. Their guide, local conservationist David Mitchell, returns from scouting the inland trail with bad news. David Mitchell: Most of the water is up to about here on what's the walking track. Tim Laman: So what does that mean about the forest around where the birds of paradise are? Is it going to be flooded there? David Mitchell: It's flooded. But give it two days it might go down. Tim Laman: Great. David Mitchell: Sorry. Tim Laman: Might as well camp here on the beach or something. Just stay here. would we do, just wait for it to go down? Tim Laman: Well it's not really practical to carry all of our gear to the flooded village through neck deep water. I mean that's not going to work either. Ed Scholes: Can we walk over there and look? David Mitchell: Yeah, come have a look. let's go have a look. Tim Laman: I don't believe this. Ed Scholes: Yeah, the rain finally stops but now we can't go anywhere because of the flood. Tim Laman: Oh gosh. Narrator: With no time to waste, and no way to work without their gear, Tim and Ed set off in search of another route. Tim Laman: Whoa! Ed Scholes: Is it getting deeper again? Narrator: The local villagers eagerly pitch in, cutting a new path through the jungle. Ed Scholes: It's like a universal in New Guinea; wherever you go it's always the kids and girls carrying your stuff. You don't look so tough next to a 12 year old girl carrying your big bag for you. Now all we need is a good downpour. Alright. Narrator: At long last they reach the village. Here we are. Ed Scholes: Home sweet home, Fergusson Island. Narrator: The goldie's live in the forest nearby. Hello. Villagers: Hello! How are you? Ed Scholes: The patch of forest where the birds are is very close. Narrator: They're anxious to see the tree where the goldie's display. Tim Laman: Slippery mud right there. the goldie call, "Wah, wah, wah." Isn't that awesome? This could be a quick trip to foot rot. Narrator: In the flooded forest, all sorts of creatures are scrambling to stay dry. Some, like this spiny orb weaver are as colorful as a bird of paradise. But it's the birds they are here to see. sounds more like what they do before they start displaying. You know, they do that chatter. [Makes bird sounds]. And then they would go [makes bird sounds] and then they would jump right into it. that sounds a little. Narrator: Finally, they manage to find an active tree. Ed Scholes: See how that tree that goes up and has got this fork in it. There's kind of like an open gap of a bunch of little jungle gym-like sticks. That's where the birds are. Narrator: There is no place up there to build a blind so they have to adjust their plan. Tim Laman: The main approach is gonna be to try to use these remote control cameras. So when I climb up in the tree, I'm gonna rig up this camera, hidden, with also a layer of leaves over this. And try to hide it you know in the next tree closest to the display site. Then we'll be able to run these cables down to the ground and shoot with the remote control setup from our laptops. We think it's gonna be a natural history filmmaking first to film birds of paradise like this up in the canopy. Narrator: They just need to turn this pile of gear into a working camera system. Tim Laman: This goes to that. This is going to be your number 2 laptop connection. Ed Scholes: Hey Tim, there's one of those big millipedes going right by. yeah, yeah. Narrator: Though not a biter, the millipede can secrete a caustic acid that causes a painful burn. Tim Laman: I'm going to wait so if he decides to spray his chemicals he'll hit my clothes instead of my leg. Alright, I'm going to get rid of this dude. I think we're about ready for this test. Ed Scholes: Alright, I am seeing two cameras. Now we need a dancing bird. Here we go. I'm gonna do my best imitation of a [Imitates bird]. Alright, you working? Tim Laman: Cut! OK. Here it comes. look at that guy. I'm pretty sure he'll be successful. Alright, it worked. Ed Scholes: Shoulda had my red shirt on. Tim Laman: Alright now we gotta rig it up in a tree. goldie's display site is a hundred feet up. Ed Scholes: Man, you had it, but I think you hit a leaf. Tim Laman: Yeah it went right over to the right spot but then it bounced back off of a. Ed Scholes: A leaf. Another branch. David Mitchell: Tim, Moses was saying that's a soft wood so it's not very strong and the branches are easy to break. Tim Laman: Okay. So uh but if I go over one of the biggest branches, should be all right, yeah? David Mitchell: What do you think Moses? Do you think Tim's too heavy, or? Moses: That's right. You don't think it'll support him eh? Moses: Yeah. He said this is a soft wood so he was having reservations when he saw you putting an arrow up in it. Ed Scholes: How soft is soft wood? Tim Laman: Well I think I'll pull a rope up and see how strong it is. It's good to be careful. Ed Scholes: We can put some double weight on the rope and just see how much it bends and. Tim Laman: See if the whole thing breaks off. All right, here goes. Ed Scholes: A little short. Got it in the right spot. rope is secure; it's time to see if it will hold Tim's weight. Tim Laman gingerly navigates the soft wood tree. Tim Laman: Alright I'm at the level now. Ed Scholes: Yeah? Tim Laman: It is pretty light wood. gonna be all right? Tim Laman: As long as I stay in the middle. I put a loop in the rope and clipped it in so if the whole top of the tree where I'm at actually cracks and bends over. My rope actually will still keep me from hitting the ground, it still would be a nasty fall but it would be better than hitting the ground. Narrator: With the nearest hospital two day's journey away, safety is paramount. Ed Scholes: How's the view of the branch? Can you see it pretty easily? Tim Laman: I got a perfectly clear view and it's two meters away. Ed Scholes: Two? gonna be awesome. Oh, my feet. This is not gonna be comfortable up here. Narrator: As Tim rushes to get the cameras in place, the goldie's start revving up for a display. Ed Scholes: It's a call to action. It means it's time to get your groove on. It's like the guy standing in front of the mirror going uh-uh-uh. Narrator: For the males of most species of birds of paradise, promiscuity is a full time job. They flirt and flirt to get the female's attention. Ed Scholes: The males would mate repeatedly with the same females throughout the course of the display session. Would mate with multiple females, would mate with the same females repeatedly over multiple days or weeks so, so yeah they're not very discriminating about who and how many. It's pretty much up to the female. Narrator: Which is why it's critical to see what the females see, how they decide who's worthy. Tim Laman: Alright I'm up here in the canopy by the goldie's bird of paradise tree and here are my two remote control cameras #1 and #2. Narrator: It's taken three hours for Tim to perfectly position the cameras. Tim Laman: My legs are starting to get gripped up from just holding these weird positions for too long. I need a break. Narrator: Unable to rest on any of the fragile branches, Tim has got to get down before his legs give out. Whoa. Oh man, it's really tiring up there. The birds are calling just behind us. Just above back over here. So they're only about 25 meters away. But maybe they're all spooked by my cameras up there, we're not sure. digital trap is laid, but no one's biting. Ed Scholes: Come on in boys, the water's warm. Tim Laman: They're kind of closer. They're up higher. If we had a stuffed female bird of paradise, stuck her up there, they'd be down there in a second. Unintentionally, Ed tries to call them in himself. Tim Laman: That's the most ridiculous water bottle. Ed Scholes: I don't know what to do about it. Tim Laman: There's a lot of waiting in this business. Ed Scholes: Oh man. They're definitely there when they come around. But they're just not in the right tree. Come on dudes. Come on. Narrator: But today is not going to be the day. Ah, (bleep). It's starting to rain. Shuttin' down. Tim Laman: I can't believe they're coming so close, right when it's getting dark and I have to go up and get the cameras down because it's also starting to rain. And now they're like right here. Narrator: They can't film at night and the cameras aren't waterproof, so day one on Fergusson is a bust. Tim Laman: Let's just hope we get the payoff moment to go with all the misery and suffering. next morning, they're back before dawn. Tim Laman: Alright, we're going to try to be really quiet because we think the birds are sleeping very close to the tree here so we're just going to try to sneak up there and set up the cameras, get back down as fast as I can. Narrator: As if the soft wood isn't dangerous enough, Tim's climbing in total darkness and the tree is soaked and slippery. I'm gonna do a quick cable check here. Make sure the rats didn't chew the cable overnight which would be a big problem. Rodents love this rubbery wire. Tree rats. The bain of every ornithologist. Alright 5:28. So we're on schedule, I made it back down before 5:30. Yeah, good job. Now we just got to sit tight and wait for like an hour for it to get light. They haven't come to the display site yet. You know, it was raining all night and it's been a really wet and kind of drippy morning, so we hope that that's the reason that they're not being active and displaying this morning. But we don't know, it's just kind of a waiting game. They're getting temptingly close now, but I just don't think they're buying it. goldie's seem to be avoiding the rigged tree. Tim Laman: It's been like two good mornings now and they haven't come, so I'm pretty sure that having those cameras up there close to the display site is putting them off a bit. So we're gonna have to try something different. Narrator: Frustrated by the goldie's lack of cooperation, Tim and Ed head off in search of a different bird they've been hearing. Tim Laman: Manucodes are calling nearby. So I'm gonna try to get that on video. Hey, which one do you want to chase, there's one over here now, too. Ed Scholes: Let's go, back toward the big fig tree. Narrator: Curl crested manucodes have a spectacular call. Ed Scholes: Sounds like a UFO landing. Ah, they're right here. But we're on the wrong side of the sun. Tim Laman: (Bleep). Narrator: The manucode is a throwback species. It looks more similar to the ancient, crow-like ancestor of all birds of paradise than it does to its flamboyant modern-day cousins. Manucodes are quaintly monogamous; they don't need fancy feathers to convince a female to mate with them, like the males of other species. Ed Scholes: Somewhere along the way they made the shift from being monogamous to polygynous and then things just went crazy with sexual selection. Narrator: Unlike natural selection which weeds out the weak, sexual selection ensures the survival of the male traits the female finds most attractive. When a female bird of paradise selects a male to mate with, she is endorsing his assets, making sure those genes will live on. Ed Scholes: The more extreme your preference is for certain kinds of behaviors or ornaments, the more extreme those traits are in the offspring of the males that have them. So because of that, the females' behavior of spending time watching males and mating is sort of equally as obnoxious and extreme and bizarre as what the males are doing themselves. Narrator: Plentiful food and few predators free up male birds of paradise to devote most of their energy to mating. The choosy females only mate with the sexiest males. But every encounter starts with an audition. Ed Scholes: They've created their destiny of spending inordinate number of hours watching the very males that their ancestors have created through sexual selection. manucodes never made the leap to polygamy. But that doesn't mean they're without sex appeal. For them it's an oral thing. Ed records a male's call and plays it back to fool a bird into revealing its position. There they go. Where'd they go? Tim Laman: Is that him right there? Ed Scholes: He's low in there somewhere. him, that's him. Just behind the tree. Ed Scholes: He's right in the sunlight. Ed Scholes: Wow you can really see his throat moving now. bird that has this really crazy like windy trachea on its throat there that it's using to make that crazy call. Narrator: This is an unexpected, but important catch. Tim Laman: This is a cool behavior that nobody has documented the postures that these guys do while they're calling. Ed Scholes: Better than what we did with goldie's this morning. Narrator: Taking the manucodes as a good sign, Tim and Ed head back to the goldie's. yeah, there's a bird really close. Scientist/photographer team Ed Scholes and Tim Laman have spotted two male goldie's displaying on a branch about 50 yards from their rigged tree. This is what they've been waiting for. pretty good. They're so low. With this big lens from this far away it feels like you're up there with them, so. Narrator: The females have box seats for the performance. Ed Scholes: Okay, it looks like the female came back and now he's getting closer and closer. There he goes. And now they mated. So that's one mating. Tim Laman: I just got a mating on film. Narrator: An eternity of foreplay leads up to a hit and run transfer of sperm. Tim Laman: So they did their whole thing, I got the mating and everything. you get a pretty good view from here. Ed Scholes: Nice. The stick is in the way, but. There's this one stick where when the two males are there it's mostly like that. I don't like that branch. Narrator: Now if they can just get a display with their leaf cam. Coffee's on. It's pretty good. We got our Papua New Guinea Coffee with a bird of paradise on the front there. Can't go without my little broken heart mug. Narrator: Before Tim climbs up to rig the remote camera, he attempts an aerial extraction. Tim Laman: No that was a bad one. Oh! Yes, I think we did it. I think it's one of those softwood trees. Well, the offending branch is no more. Alright I gotta go up. Here's a view of the canopy camera. looking out on that tree over there. Hopefully the birds will come, do a little displaying and we'll get the canopy perspective. Wow this is working great. Now if the birds will just come. get my big lens set up. I got a small tree in my way. They're starting to get excited. He's there. Are you rolling Ed? Tim Laman: Boy they're coming in fast. Ed Scholes: There he is, there he is. Oh awesome! Ed Scholes: Two males, two females. Hey, first leaf cam footage of goldie's. we'll take it. We'll take it. Narrator: Before they leave the island, Tim reveals their groundbreaking shots for the first time. Tim Laman: This is a rapid-fire sequence. Narrator: The unique leaf cam perspective exposes previously unknown behavior, the females seem to be mesmerized by the males red feathers and during every display, the males brush their tail wires and plumes against the female's breast. Ed Scholes: Well, cheers to a good day. Narrator: Tim and Ed have accomplished many firsts and this last expedition is no exception. The first documented curl crested manucode display. The first leaf-cam The first parotia female perspective shot and over nearly a decade, the first photographs of every species of bird of paradise. Tim Laman: It's both sort of the most exciting project I have ever worked on and it's also the most frustrating project I have ever worked on. Ed Scholes: It's one thing to see a bird of paradise and think, "Oh its beautiful plumes and it's a neat bird." But it's mind-blowing when you really see it in context of what they're doing and how it evolved.