A Visit To The "Garden Of Eden"

Bob Simon Travels To A Pristine Paradise In Indonesia

(CBS)  Beehler was on the march to find what are called "birds of paradise." The Black Sickle Bill Bird of Paradise was of particular interest, the largest of the family. The bird is so rare it took Beehler 30 years to see his first Sickle Bill; we were trying to find one in 10 days.

And then, we saw one. It was only a glimpse, but it was long enough to marvel at his extravagant tail. The key to finding the Sickle Bill, it turns out, was a dead stump. "That is a very special place. That is the display site of that black Sickle Bill bird of paradise that we glimpsed. This is the first time I've ever seen a display site," Beehler explained. "This is where the male does his dance for the female, only on top of that perch."

The bird, Beehler says, literally does a dance. "He completely transforms himself into [an] other-worldly creature."

The dance is part of the mating ritual. And it only happens between 5:20 and 5:45 a.m. That's when our cameras were focused on the dead stump every morning, trying to become the first camera crew to film a male Sickle Bill doing its display for a female. Sure enough, one morning an early bird arrived before dawn. What we saw next really was other-worldly: the male flashed his yellow mouth, hoping to lure a female. One took the bait, and the male transformed himself from bird to batman.

We don't know if the female was blown away by this display, but we certainly were. "How could she not be impressed?" Beehler wondered. "It’s the most fantastic thing I've ever seen."

Just yards away from the dead stump, we met another character of the rain forest. A male golden-fronted bower bird, found only in the Foja Mountains, was sprucing up. He's known as the architect of the forest, for good reason.

"I like to call this the bower bird's 'Tower of Love.' It looks sort of like a nest. But it's not a nest. You can hear the male. He's up there, making weird sounds. He’s created this love bower that he builds and it’s artful. He adds different colors," Beehler explained.

The bower bird decorates his tower with fruits, snails -- anything he thinks will make it stand out.

"And all this to attract the girls?" Simon asked.

"Yes. Basically, this is his playboy pad. Right, he's a single male here. Polygamist," Beehler replied.

"He’s more discriminating in how he builds his tower than he is in the females he mates with," Simon remarked.

"That's what the evolutionary biologists say, yes. Generally, the females are choosey. And the males are, shall we say, horny," Beehler explained.

This tower, three feet tall, consists of about 500 sticks, all put together by this one male bower bird. Surrounding it is a mossy runway where he will dance for the female as part of his display. It had never been filmed before, so our camera man Chris Everson had a hiding spot built for him near the tower. Once the camera was safely tucked away behind camouflage, it was a matter of waiting, and hoping. We weren't disappointed. First a female dropped in to check out the tower. The male arrived, bearing fruit in his mouth. He finally got up the nerve to lift his crest and strut his stuff.

What some guys won't do. Apparently he'll need work on his routine, because the female left. According to Beehler, it may have just been too early in the season.

[travelina-2009]

New Guinea has birds of paradise too, and there''s a photo gallery on National Geographic showing these extravagantly plumed birds doing their thing:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/07/birds-of-paradise/laman-photography

[perusing]

Thank you, Bob Simon. My husband and I have arranged to bequeath a portion of our estate to Conservation International.

[lewiston14]

Morel of the story leave it as you found it.

[lewiston14]

Morel of the story leave it as you found it.

[lewiston14]

I loved that pygmy possum, one of the smallest possums in the world, couldn%u2019t get enough camera time"
That little critter was fun to watch

[proaudubon]

The dance of the bower bird was almost as heartwarming as another exotic bird I caught on a Science channel special - but it''s good to know more species abound in Indonesia.

[saraangelyn]

What a wonderful piece on the "Garden of Eden" tonight. Great job CBS and Bob Simon!!!

[marvelle123]

A beautiful story. Well done CBS. You''re the only US network show spending money to do stories like this. You are to be commended.

[birdseeker]

The New Guinea birds of paradise, including the Sickle Bill from this 60 Minutes segment, were covered in David Attenborough''s video "Attenborough In Paradise" which was finally released in the US this year. I saw the program about 10 years ago on PBS and have waited since then to see it again. People need to see segments like this more often to be reminded of what treasures will be lost with the loss of habitat.

[christinea66]

Thank you so much for this segment. It was a real treat! It was as entertaining and informative as it was captivating. For a while I was in The Garden of Eden. This should win an emmy.
Thanks again.

[ponceb]

What a marvelous visit to the Foja Mountains; Indonesia- in your "visit to the Garden of Eden".
Untouched and unblemished. So powerful-especially after just finishing the new book,
"The World Without Us", Alan Weisman..
Thanks to all of you and especially Bob Simon.

[oleander8]

I hope the travel agents won''t be able to book tours and hotel moguls build resorts now that it''s been exposed to the world.

[brassmannin]

It''s an area of this hectic and congested world that I''ve always fantasized about going to....thanks for the journey, it was truly enjoyable.

[flazney]

I object to the implication that this is what the world was like before mankind spoiled it. You can only belive that if you have no understanding of the natural history of the world. This piece reminds me that the environmentalists are more about new-age religion than they would like to admit.

[brianbwb-2009]

"Only a handful of humans are known to have walked this ground... But it took him 24 years of begging before the Indonesian government would let him set foot there."

Not quite true, I have been there, quite a few times, accompanied by locals. The first time, I was invited by an official, subsequently I didn''t need government permission to go. We set up a radio transceiver in the village, so the people could communicate to the outside. After the radio was up and working, we were taken to the mountains as the people wanted to show us the place as their way of saying "thanks". "Gunung Foha" also has hot springs, one in particular is the Papasena''s favorite, the high sulfur content of the hot water is known for it''s curative and rejuvenating properties for the skin, and the view, whether dawn, noon, sunset, or night can''t be described. The only things to be aware of are dinner plate sized wood spiders with half inch fangs, only mildly venomous but very painful, and a beautiful caterpillar that can sting like a jellyfish if brushed against.

Why it took "24 years of begging"? The government of Indonesia has always operated on a system of bribes, an artifact from Indonesia''s early days, when the government and military collected operating money directly from the people It is still in practice, having mutated, post Soeharto into "mafia" type rackets. Had he, 24 years ago, offered as little as $50 back then, to as much as $500 now to the governor, he''d have been there the next day.

[coolwind1]

Loved the "Garden of Eden" segment, but I was disappointed in Andy''s dissertation. He would spend money on 150-watt bulbs and personal taxis everywhere. He could spend his money more wisely to alleviate global warming. He worked against the beautiful "Eden" segment. He should be a better role model. (We need all the help we can get.)

[seattlady]

I am in awe of new discoveries of wildlife on our planet. I wonder how the Planet Earth people missed out on this one. Perhaps they also had problems getting permission to film on the island. Congratulations on a great job.

[jolener-2009]

I thoroughly enjoyed this report! It was not only educational for me, I got a kick out of the male golden-fronted bower bird. To build all those sticks up, decorate it with fruits, lift his crest and dance for the female bird with a berry in his mouth was truly amazing and a wonderful sight to see. Too bad he got rejected but I''m sure he will eventually be successful. Thanks 60 minutes and I hope you do more reports like this in the future.

[tvgirl5]

I don''t think CBS is the "first" to film that bird''s "batman" mating display. I''m pretty sure I saw that same bird in the BBC series "Planet Earth".
You might want to look into that...