(Male) Superb Bird-of-Paradise
The Superb Bird-of-Paradise is also known as the 'Smiley Bird of Paradise'. During the courtship display the male raises its long feathers behind the back of the head, shaping them into a sinister looking velvety black cape.
The head of the bird disappears completely in the black, but the iridescent blue feathers on the crown and on the breast catch the light, and are shaped into a pattern similar to a cartoon face. Even despite the display, the average female rejects 15-20 potential suitors before consenting to mate.
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Tip!
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The template of the female Superb Bird-of-Paradise is available for free download (click here) so you can make this wonderful set-up.
Price: 7.00 €
The kit:
It was difficult to achieve the rich black of the cape! First I experimented with black pastel. But I found the best thing to do is printing the sheet with the cape-part twice, over each other on the same paper. So the model of the male does require some more ink for printing then the female.
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The model of the male contains 6 sheets in full colour which need to be printed on normal 120 gram paper and 6 sheets with instructions which do not need to be printed. The instructions can also be downloaded here.