When I was at the zoo last year the sky was mostly overcast. However, the sun came out for a bit in the afternoon and produced this very contrasty picture of a male exclamatory paradise whydah. He has sort of a peacock style tail, apparently grown to absurd lengths in an arms race to attract the attention of the female whydah. But he can still fly!
Peacocks can fly surprisingly well.
I've seen Long-tailed Paradise Whydahs in South Africa. They're similar to these, with slightly different tail structure. You can find them sitting on power lines along roadsides in northern Limpopo.
Another southern African bird with a long tail, the Long-tailed Widowbird, can also fly pretty well when it wants to, but strangely enough, during its display flight it looks like it's really struggling to keep afloat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXroJpZS1JQ
Other species of widowbird have their own uniquely strange courtship flight behaviors.
Fun fact: Both "whydah" and the "widow" part of "widowbird" come from the city of Ouidah, Benin. The widowbirds are in the weaver family (Ploceidae), but look and behave less like their fellow weavers and more like the whydahs and indigobirds (Viduidae).
'Male exclamatory paradise whydah' is what I've been telling people for years.
I'm certain I saw a picture of this bird in Dr. Seuss.
Great comment, keep 'em comin'.
It's hard to tell from the photo because the tail is cut off (clicked it and all but, no fuller view provided). Maybe there's something just out of the shot we are prevented from seeing, at the bottom of that (reportedly) absurdly long tail that's even better than its length. Looks long enough maybe, to me. Doubtless, long tails make it easier to fly wherever they grow 'em that long.
RIP JOHNNY CARSON
Did you change the photo?
it's back to normal now....hmmm....
I doubt that the tail is useful, but hey, if it gets the girls, it's worth it.
Now that's one hell of a bird name.
Would like to hear Hilbert and Hopper's informed perspective as well. 🙂