Rare Glimpses of Birds of Paradise

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If patience is a virtue, Tim Laman will be in great shape if there’s an afterlife.

He has logged thousands of hours sitting perfectly still in the treetops of dense New Guinea rain forests to photograph all 39 unique species of birds of paradise. These birds, famed for brilliant colors and intricate courtship dances, are beautiful to look at â€" once you find them. Over eight years and 18 expeditions, Mr. Laman and his scientific partner Edwin Scholes, traveled by bush plane, four-wheel drive, boat and foot to very remote and extremely rugged areas. Mr. Laman became the first person to photograph all of the birds of paradise species in the wild. Some had never been photographed in their natural habitat.

Few people have ever seen these spectacular creatures in the wild. But now, because of Mr. Laman’s arduous quest, you can see them in very easy-to-find trees: in Charlottesville, Va. The images are being exhibited on large banners suspended in old oak trees along an outdoor pedestrian mall during this year’s Look3 photography festival, from June 13 through June 15. Curated by Melinda Harris and Yolanda Cuomo, the festival will also feature exhibits and talks by Josef Koudelka, Susan Meiselas, Gregory Crewdson, Carrie Mae Weems, Richard Misrach and Michael Nichols.

Jon Golden Mr. Laman’s birds of paradise pictures will be on display at the Look3 festival in Charlottesville, Va.

The festival’s roots go back 25 years to gatherings of photographers in Mr. Nichols’s backyard in Berkeley, Calif. By 2005, he had moved to Charlottesville, and was attracting 500 people to his home for the annual event. Look3 became a full-blown festival in 2007 and has since become one of the most important American photography events. It is a tribal gathering, of sorts, for both successful and aspiring American photographers.

Mr. Laman will give a talk this year and have a book signing for his and Mr. Scholes’s book “Birds of Paradise,” published by the National Geographic Society.

The book project started when Mr. Laman, who has a doctorate in rain forest ecology from Harvard, pitched the idea to the National Geographic magazine. He photographed 19 species over the next four years and the article was published in 2007. Having gone that far, Mr. Laman decided to try to photograph all 39 species, a goal made possible with support from Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology and the National Geographic Society.

Tim Laman A female Brown Sicklebill (Epimachus meyeri). Mount Hagen, Papua New Guinea.

“Few Westerners ever get to see the bird of paradise’s courtship display in the wild,” Mr. Laman wrote in National Geographic about his early expeditions. “It took a lot of time, effort and help from specialist Edwin Scholes and from local people to locate display sites in the remote forests of New Guinea. Once we found one, we built a blind where I could wait out of sight. Then came the long hours of anticipation. At some sites â€" even after spending many days in blinds â€" I never got any pictures because the male never came and displayed.

“But then there were those moments when the birds did show up. I experienced heart-thumping seconds when I saw such scenes as the blue bird of paradise flip over to his upside-down position and perform his astonishing hanging display, spreading his breast plumes into a fan, bouncing and buzzing, and waving his tail wires. He did something that is totally ordinary in his world but truly bizarre in ours. Being a witness to such spectacles of nature made all the hard work and discomfort worthwhile.”

Because food was plentiful and there were few predators in the rain forests, sexual selection was the main driving force for evolution, and the birds of paradise developed brilliant colors and elaborate courtship displays. And since most of their habitats are so remote, the birds have developed without interference from humans. Only three of the species are endangered right now, but that’s changing fast because of pressure on forests from logging and palm oil plantations, Mr. Laman said.

“One of my goals in my work is to bring more attention to the earth’s biodiversity that we should protect,” said Mr Laman, 51. “And the birds of paradise are really spectacular little birds that can get people really motivated to help save the rainforest in New Guinea”

Tim Laman Wallace’s Standardwing Bird of Paradise (Semioptera wallacei). Halmahera, Indonesia.

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