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The incredible vibrance of many Birds-of-paradise is in part due to the deep black feathers which make their more colorful plumage simply ‘pop’. A recent study looking closely at these black feathers found that they had a unique nanostructure that is super-efficient in light absorption. This results in one of the darkest blacks found in nature, rivaling those of highly specialized synthetic materials. Here, a Vogelkop Superb Bird-of-paradise (Lophorina niedda) waits at his display (a fallen log) for the arrival of a female. West Papua, Indonesia (New Guinea).

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© Chien C. Lee
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Birds, New Guinea
The incredible vibrance of many Birds-of-paradise is in part due to the deep black feathers which make their more colorful plumage simply ‘pop’. A recent study looking closely at these black feathers found that they had a unique nanostructure that is super-efficient in light absorption. This results in one of the darkest blacks found in nature, rivaling those of highly specialized synthetic materials. Here, a Vogelkop Superb Bird-of-paradise (Lophorina niedda) waits at his display (a fallen log) for the arrival of a female. West Papua, Indonesia (New Guinea).