The birds-of-paradise are one of the great wonders of the natural world and I am fortunate to have been able to document and study them in the wild through my work as a scientist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. I am excited to be partnering with the EcoNusa Foundation to highlight the birds-of-paradise from Papua and Maluku as part of the Defending Paradise campaign. I hope these extraordinary birds inspire you to do what you can to help protect their native homelands because the forests of Papua and Maluku are not only essential for the well-being of the birds-of-paradise, they are essential for the well-being of the planet and people too.