about in different directions in search of food. Courtship and breeding Male greater birds-of-paradise, as polygynous breeders, experience female selection, in which females choose male mates based upon indirect genetic benefits which increase offspring fitness. Since males do not contribute to offspring in any other way (i.e. through parental care), females have to assess male fitness through courtship rituals, details of which are in the following sections. Dances Males display in trees above the ground and congregate in a lek or “court” versus individually displaying for females. Males will initially congregate around common display areas on a secondary perch, away from the main viewing perches available, and flap their wings rapidly. They will then move to the main viewing perches, erecting their large plumes at their rumps over their backs and extending their wings (Pose 1). They subsequently depress their bodies close to the branches that they are on, retract their wings, leave their tail plumes erected, and prance or charge along their branch (Pose 2). The birds will then freeze with their bills pointed downwards, wings extended once again, and tail plumes still upright (Pose 3). Males will assume this last position, referred to as the “flower position” when females are present, for inspection purposes, but will refrain and remain in position two, moving in synchrony, when females are absent. Males will often visit each other's display grounds, located relatively close to each other, but will perform the majority of their displays at a common court. Other courtship behaviors outside of the physical dance can consist of bill-wiping, in which the male pauses the dance and brushes both sides of his beak on the branch, as well as leaf-tearing, hanging upside down from the branch, and vocalizations. Calls Males use eight variations of calls, commonly referred to as “wauks” within courtship rituals, each linked to a section of the courtship dance: Rising call: A series of four or five “wauks” repeated at one-second intervals. The first two notes are of approximately equal volume and the subsequent two or three are of increasing volume and intensity. Rapid wauk call: A series of quick “wauks”, all of the equal volume, delivered in bursts of several per second, accompanied by wingbeats. These calls are usually performed when a female is in the vicinity and in correlation with pose one. Wing pose call: The only non-“wauk” call, this vocalization consists of piercing “ee-ak”