The Paradise-crow also known as the Silky Crow, is a medium-sized (approximately 34 cm long) crow

Crow

Crows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several...

-like bird of paradise with all-dark, soft and silky plumage. It has a black bill

Beak

The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...

, crimson

Crimson

Crimson is a strong, bright, deep red color. It is originally the color of the dye produced from a scale insect, Kermes vermilio, but the name is now also used as a generic term for those slightly bluish-red colors that are between red and rose; besides crimson itself, these colors include...

 eyes, and a call reminiscent of a dog's bark. Both sexes are similar; the female is slightly smaller than the male.

One of the few monogamous birds of paradise, the Paradise-crow is endemic

Endemism in birds

An endemic bird area is a region of the world that contains two or more restricted-range species, while a "secondary area" contains one or more restricted-range species. Both terms were devised by Birdlife International....

 to lowland

Lowland

In physical geography, a lowland is any broad expanse of land with a general low level. The term is thus applied to the landward portion of the upward slope from oceanic depths to continental highlands, to a region of depression in the interior of a mountainous region, to a plain of denudation, or...

 forests of North Maluku in Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

. The diet consists mainly of fruits and arthropods. Three subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 are recognized, with the nominate subspecies, found on the islands of Halmahera, Kasiruta and Bacan, having the least or no white patch on the inner flight feathers. The other two subspecies include Lycocorax pyrrhopterus morotensis found on the islands of Morotai and Rau and Lycocorax pyrrhopterus obiensis found on the islands of Obi and Bisa.

A common species throughout its habitat

Habitat (ecology)

A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism...

 range, the Paradise Crow is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List

IUCN Red List

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...

 of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES.

External links

• BirdLife Species Factsheet