Revealing the Astounding Beauty of the Most Exquisitely Specialized Animals on Earth

Watch the video that launched Cornell Lab scientist Ed Scholes and photographer Tim Laman's monumental work to document all the species in the wild for the first time

Blue Bird-of-Paradise by Tim Laman

Between 2004 and 2012, Tim Laman and Ed Scholes spent 544 days in the field, visiting 51 sites to document all 39 species of the birds-of-paradise known at that time.  Along the way, Tim Laman shot more than 39,000 photographs and together the team recorded countless hours of video documenting the extraordinary beauty and otherworldly behavior of these amazing birds. In the sections below, you can learn more about effort behind the images as well as find out the other projects the team has worked on in the years since.

  • The Human Endeavor

    An undertaking like the Birds-of-Paradise Project demands an explorer’s passion, a scientist’s curiosity, an inventor’s ingenuity, plenty of patience, and endless hard work. See how Ed Scholes, Tim Laman, and their guides met these challenges.

  • Additional Resources

    Our birds-of-paradise adventures have been featured in Attenborough’s Paradise Birds, Planet Earth 2, Our Planet, Living Bird, Birds of Paradise: Revealing the World’s Most Extraordinary Birds…Explore!

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