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'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.

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.


I hope you will enjoy making this model!

Johan Scherft

The model of the male is available for 7 euro.

The model of the female is a free download in PDF:
sheet 1 PDF
sheet 2 PDF
sheet 3 (the mount) PDF
or JPG (copysafe the file, then print):
sheet 1 JPG
sheet 2 JPG
sheet 3 (the mount) JPG

Print the templates on 120 gr paper. Print them 100 % (no marges).
Instructions can be found here.



The model of the male contains 6 sheets in full colour which need to be printed on normal 120 gr paper
and 6 sheets with instructions which need not to be printed.
Instructions for the male can also be found here.

You can order the male with paypal:




After ordering and payment the model is send by email (wetransfer.com)
This model is intended for personal use only, reproduction or distribution on the internet is not allowed.