Here are some vector and digital drawings of birds of paradise that I saw in the forest. The first one is the illustration of Lesser Bird of Paradise which I created using inkscape -a vector drawing software. It is a male one. He opens his wings as part of a courtship dance show in order to attract his female partner for mating.
The second digital artwork here is still drawing of another male Lesser Birds of Paradise (Paradisaea minor) which I made using Autodesk Sketchbook. It is an Android based digital drawing application. To make the drawing, I used a Samsung Tab A with an S-pen. The stylus pen was quite small. I needed to practice using it for a few days to get used to holding it like handling a piece of pencil. The glass surface of the tablet was also smoother than paper. After creating several digital drawings, I feel that it is much easier to create illustrations digitally than manually on conventional media such as paper and coloured pencils. However, I still like drawing in my leisure times.
My Samsung tablet has broken. Now I use Vivo smartphone with a Baseus stylus that I bought separately. Although it is not easy to draw things using cell phones, I still can make digital illustrations of birds or other things using these devices.
The Lesser Birds of Paradise that I mentioned above live in lowland and lower montane forest of New Guinea. They can also be found in the islands in Yapen, Salawati, and Misool.
The following vector illustration is Red Bird of Paradise. It is a male bird. In its actual pose, he was in an upside down position. The paradise bird lives in tropical forest of the islands of Waigeo, Gam and Batanta islands. It is an important watching target among birdwatchers who want to see the courtship dance performance of Red Bird of Paradise (Paradisaea rubra) when they take vacation to Raja Ampat archipelago.
Because the tree where the paradise birds dance is usually tall, birdwatchers need binoculars and camera with telephoto lens to shoot them.
Before the covid pandemic, I often guided visitors on birdwatching trips to rainforest in West Papua. We watched birds of paradise such as Magnificent Bird of Paradise, Magnificent Riflebird, Black Sicklebill, Vogelkop Superb Bird of Paradise, Western Parotia (also called Ballerina Bird), Long-tailed Paradigala, Lesser Birds of Paradise, King Bird of Paradise, Glossy-mantled Manucode, Red Bird of Paradise, Wilson's Bird of Paradise.