The Bird’s Head plate is a minor but distinct lithospheric block that underlies the Bird’s Head Peninsula at the western end of New Guinea, and forms part of a complex mosaic of plates in eastern Indonesia. Its kinematics remain debated: some authors (e.g., Hillis and Müller) interpret the Bird’s Head as moving coherently with the Pacific plate, whereas others (notably P. Bird) treat it as kinematically independent from the Pacific, leaving its precise motion relative to adjacent major plates unresolved.
Boundary relations around the plate reflect a mixture of extensional, compressional and strike‑slip regimes. The southeastern margin is divergent with respect to the Australian plate and the small Maoke plate, indicating active extension and relative separation on that flank. In contrast, the northern and northwestern margins are dominated by convergence — with the Caroline plate to the north and the Philippine Sea and Halmahera plates to the northwest — suggesting zones of compression that may involve subduction or collision processes. A transform (strike‑slip) boundary along the southwest interfaces the Bird’s Head plate with the Molucca Sea Collision Zone, accommodating lateral displacement, while its southern contact with the Banda Sea plate is another convergent margin, marking an additional compressional boundary.