In Birds of Paradise, super-black feathers help male birds look more beautiful to a female’s eye. To understand how, it helps to look at Bird of Paradise mating dances.

"The black is so striking on these birds of paradise. It really does look different," said Teresa Feo, a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Institution's Division of Birds.

For really black plumage, you need to travel to Papua New Guinea and track down the birds-of-paradise. Although these birds are best known for their gaudy, kaleidoscopic colors, some species also ...

Scientists are stunned by this bird’s feathers, which are so black they absorb 99.9% of light. By Mike Wehner. ... engineers can use what the bird of paradise teaches us to improve our own human ...

Optical measurements of the bird of paradise feathers indicate that they are capable of absorbing 99.95% of light that reaches it, a similar level of light absorption to man-made ultra-black ...

The study analyzed feathers from five birds of paradise species, finding that when viewed from straight ahead, the feathers absorb 99.95% of light, resulting in an incredibly black appearance.

Birds of paradise are found in New Guinea and parts of eastern Australia. They are famous for the elaborate courting displays, plumage ornaments and dramatic colouration of the males. In many species, ...

Black feathers found on other birds-of-paradise—and some found elsewhere on one of the species the team analyzed—reflect between 10 and 100 times more light than the superblack feathers do ...

The mating display of the male bird of paradise owes its optical extravagance to a background so black it is the envy of telescope and solar panel engineers, according to a new study published Jan. 9 ...

BIRDS OF A FEATHER The bird of paradise species Ptiloris paradiseus sports velvety, ultradark feathers next to its bright blue-green plumage.Microstructures in the black feathers, which help ...