Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Bowerbirds
    Bowerbirds
    Bowerbirds
    Ebook212 pages2 hours

    Bowerbirds

    By Peter Rowland

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The bowerbirds (family Ptilonorhynchidae) are famed for their unique bower-building behaviour. In some species, the bower can be a complex construction of sticks and other vegetable matter that can grow to two metres in diameter and one-and-a-half metres high. Many species are also accomplished mimics, and are able to copy the calls of other bird species, other natural and mechanical sounds and even human speech.

    The bowerbirds are confined to Australia and New Guinea and, due to the difficulty in accessing certain areas of their distribution, the study of their habits has been challenging. The 20 existing species are almost equally divided between the two regions, with eight species endemic to Australia, 10 to New Guinea and two species occurring in both.

    Bowerbirds condenses published knowledge into a format that will suit natural history enthusiasts at any level. While the emphasis is on Australian members of the family, with detailed accounts on each of the 10 species, the New Guinea representatives are discussed in general chapters and are included in a supplemental section that covers key areas such as breeding, identification and distribution.

    This book also includes more than 50 illustrations, including colour pictures of each Australian species, their bowers, displays and distributional maps.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCSIRO PUBLISHING
    Release dateMay 6, 2008
    ISBN9780643098688
    Bowerbirds

    Related to Bowerbirds

    Related ebooks

    Nature For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Field Guide To Insects Of South Africa (2019 Edition)

      Aug 14, 2019

      Author: Mike Picker, Charles Griffiths and Alan Weaving Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa Language: English Pages: 300 Format: Paperback Retail price: R300 Even if you have the previous field guide published by these authors, you wil

      1 min read

    • Article

      New Status For The Platypus

      Feb 24, 2021

      New Status For The Platypus
      1 min read

    • Article

      Scientists Have No Defense Against Awe

      Jun 12, 2016

      Eileen Pollack, author of The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science Is Still a Boys’ Club, hinted at the complexity of the relationship between science and the soul in a recent essay: “We need scientists who recognize the reality of this illusion we st

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Extinct (and Almost Extinct) Birds Of John J. Audubon

      Sep 1, 2022

      The Extinct (and Almost Extinct) Birds Of John J. Audubon
      3 min read

    • Article

      Bird-Brained or Brilliant?

      Nov 1, 2022

      Bird-Brained or Brilliant?
      5 min read

    • Article

      Best Smartphones For Macro

      Apr 8, 2023

      Best Smartphones For Macro
      7 min read

    • Article

      Our Wildlife Extinction Crisis

      Nov 3, 2022

      Our Wildlife Extinction Crisis
      7 min read

    • Article

      An Invitation To Listen

      Aug 25, 2022

      An Invitation To Listen
      10 min read

    • Article

      NATURE’S Incredible CROWN

      Jul 16, 2021

      NATURE’S Incredible CROWN
      8 min read

    • Article

      Deer Vs Moa

      Feb 6, 2022

      Deer Vs Moa
      9 min read

    • Article

      Birdkeeper At Large

      Aug 30, 2023

      WHAT GOT YOU into keeping birds as a hobby? A follow-up question is to ask why you chose the species you did? Reflecting back to when I was a young lad, it was “budgerigars” and “colour” for me. As a “townie”, just about all of the birds I had encoun

      3 min read

    • Article

      One For The Birds

      Feb 24, 2021

      One For The Birds
      4 min read

    • Article

      You’ve Got To Love A Plover

      Sep 1, 2021

      You’ve Got To Love A Plover
      5 min read

    • Article

      Waiting In The Wings

      Nov 3, 2021

      Waiting In The Wings
      5 min read

    • Article

      Lend Me Your Ear(wig)

      Feb 9, 2022

      Lend Me Your Ear(wig)
      5 min read

    • Article

      Crake Expectations

      Apr 6, 2023

      Crake Expectations
      5 min read

    • Article

      Q&A

      May 7, 2020

      Charles Darwin travelled the world, but also spent countless hours observing nature in Britain (see p12). One common wildflower in his garden and local woods long perplexed him. Why did primroses appear in two quite different forms? So-called ‘pin’ t

      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Bowerbirds

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Bowerbirds - Peter Rowland

      BOWERBIRDS

      To My Parents

      ‘Slange var’

      BOWERBIRDS

      PETER ROWLAND

      © Peter Rowland 2008

      All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Australian Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, duplicating or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Contact CSIRO PUBLISHING for all permission requests.

      National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

      Rowland, Peter, 1967–

      Bowerbirds/author, Peter Rowland.

      Collingwood, Vic.: CSIRO Publishing, 2008.

      9780643094208 (pbk.)

      Australian Natural History Series

      Includes index.

      Bibliography.

      Bowerbirds – Behavior – Australia.

      Bowerbirds – Australia– Handbooks, manuals, etc.

      Bowerbirds – Habitat – Conservation – Australia.

      Bowerbirds – New Guinea – Handbooks, manuals, etc.

      598.8

      Published by and available from

      CSIRO PUBLISHING

      150 Oxford Street (PO Box 1139)

      Collingwood VIC 3066

      Australia

      Front cover

      Male Regent Bowerbird. Photo by Graeme Chapman.

      Back cover

      Left: Large bower of the Vogelkop Bowerbird. Photo by Aniket Sardana.

      Right: Male Satin Bowerbird. Photo by Michael Seyfort.

      Set in 10.5/14 Adobe Palatino, Optima and Stone Sans

      Cover and text design by James Kelly

      Typeset by Desktop Concepts Pty Ltd, Melbourne

      Printed in Australia by BPA Print Group

      CONTENTS

      Acknowledgements

      1 Introduction

      2 Classification and morphology

      3 Habitat, distribution and conservation

      4 Bower evolution and sexual behaviour

      5 Species accounts

      Bowerbird key

      Spotted Catbird

      Green Catbird

      Tooth-billed Bowerbird

      Golden Bowerbird

      Regent Bowerbird

      Satin Bowerbird

      Spotted Bowerbird

      Western Bowerbird

      Great Bowerbird

      Fawn-breasted Bowerbird

      6 New Guinea species supplement

      White-eared Catbird

      Macgregor’s Bowerbird

      Streaked Bowerbird

      Vogelkop Bowerbird

      Golden-fronted Bowerbird

      Archbold’s Bowerbird

      Masked Bowerbird

      Flame Bowerbird

      Adelbert Bowerbird

      Lauterbach’s Bowerbird

      Bibliography

      Index

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      Special acknowledgement goes to Sally Bird and CSIRO, who made it possible for me to write this book. Thanks to Wayne Longmore for proofreading the book and offering suggestions, and Walter Boles for access to the Australian Museum bird collection, for his additional comments and assistance in tracking down published data and photographic material. Thanks also to the photographers who bring the book to life with their expertise in capturing these beautiful birds for the rest of the world to see. Also, to my wife, Kate, who provided the maps and diagrams.

      This book aims to condense the published knowledge acquired by ornithologists who have studied the bowerbirds over the years, and deliver it in a more simplified format for the general natural history reader. Their dedication and patience, during countless hours of research and field study, is gratefully acknowledged. I thank all of these men and women. Their work has been treated with respect, with a special mention to Clifford and Dawn Frith, and Gerald Borgia. If not for their pioneering, life-long research of the bowerbird group, and the associated published material, a book such as this would be impossible. Due to the nature of this work, references have not been included within the text, but a full list of referenced works is contained at the rear of the book.

      I dedicate this book to my parents, Pat and Keith. Thanks for the many opportunities you have given me in my life and for helping me to pursue my passion. I love you both very much.

      1

      INTRODUCTION

      ‘Had Australia lacked the lyre-birds she still would have become famed among ornithologists the world over for her wonder birds: the bower-builders …’ (C. Barrett 1945).

      This statement by Charles Barrett would suggest that this fascinating group of passerines (songbirds) are unique to Australia. In fact, New Guinea is home to two more species than Australia, with 10 of the 20 species found only in New Guinea and eight unique to Australia. The remaining two species are shared by both countries.

      The bowerbirds (family Ptilonorhynchidae) are famed for their unique bower-building behaviour and, in some species, such as the Vogelkop Bowerbird, the bowers are such complex constructions of sticks and other vegetable matter that early zoologists could not believe that they were made by a comparatively small bird. Instead, they thought that native men and women must have constructed them for their children to play with – a sort of cubby house. These constructions can grow to two metres or so in diameter and about one-and-a-half metres high.

      In all bower-building species, the male constructs, decorates and maintains the bower, which he uses to attract females for mating. The bower is wrongly referred to by most people as a nest. The nest, in most species, is a loose construction of twigs built by the female. The males in all bowerbird species, except the catbirds, mate with several females and take no part in the care of the eggs or raising of the young.

      Figure 1.1 A wigwam-style maypole bower built by a male Vogelkop Bowerbird. Photo: Aniket Sardana

      Four basic types of bowers have been described: the ‘court’ of the Tooth-billed Bowerbird, the ‘mat’ of the Archbold’s Bowerbird, the ‘avenue’ of the 10 species in the genera Ptilonorhynchus and Sericulus, and the ‘maypole’ of the five species in the genera Amblyornis (Figure 1.1). These maypole bower-builders are often referred to as gardener bowerbirds, because the platform areas of their bowers consist of a moss lawn, decorated with fresh leaves, flowers and berries. Currently no conclusive evidence exists to establish that male catbirds maintain a bower, although some birds have been observed laying sticks and leaves on the ground in captive situations, and some unsubstantiated historical reports talk of catbird bowers.

      In most species, the bower is profusely decorated by the male. Certain types and colours of items are sought and are meticulously positioned in and around the bower in an effort to bedazzle the females. Studies have indicated that the owners of bowers with a higher number, and certain assortment of, display ornaments have more successful matings. Historically bowers were decorated with naturally occurring objects but, due to the increased spread of human habitation, a number of man-made objects are now included by some species (Figure 1.2). The male Satin Bowerbird, perhaps the most studied and widely known species, has a penchant for bright blue and violet coloured objects, which may or may not be linked to his glossy blue-black plumage and violet-blue iris. These objects include parrot feathers, flowers and berries, and pilfered objects such as blue pegs, bottle tops and straws.

      Figure 1.2 Near human habitation bowerbirds use man-made objects to decorate their bowers. This Satin Bowerbird bower has over 100 blue straws. Photo: Philip Green

      Other bowerbirds have a liking for different coloured objects. Males of species found in the more arid areas collect green, pale grey-brown or white objects such as berries, bones, stones and glass, while others collect snail shells, insects, seashells and snake skins. Other pilfered objects include jewellery, cutlery, coins, rifle cartridges and one bower was even found to contain a glass eye! The number of items can reach over 1000 in some bowers. Some species of bowerbird are also famed for painting their bowers. The paint consists of chewed up vegetable matter which the bird wipes onto the walls of the bower with its bill or by using a stick.

      Figure 1.3 The parts of a bird most commonly referred to within this book.

      In most species of bowerbirds the males have striking plumage, and the females are drab. In the catbirds, and Tooth-billed Bowerbird, however, both sexes are almost identical. The males of most species of the genus Ptilonorhynchus have a bright nuchal crest (located on the nape of the neck, see Figure 1.3), which is only erected and visible during display.

      One exception is the Fawn-breasted Bowerbird, which does not have a nuchal crest, but interestingly the male still displays this part of his body during courtship. Some authors have hypothesised that the use of bower ornaments is gradually replacing the need for brightly plumaged males and evolution may lead to all male bowerbirds being uniformly coloured with highly decorated bowers.

      The first species of bowerbird known to science was the Masked Bowerbird, which was described by Carolus Linnaeus (also known as Carl von Linné) in 1758. Originally the bird was depicted as a bird-of-paradise in early illustrations. The last species described was Archbold’s Bowerbird, which was named by Ernst (Walter) Mayr and Rudolf Meyer de Schauensee in 1939. Subspecies have been described as recently as 1997. On 14 July 1867 a bowerbird specimen was collected at Witton, near Brisbane, Queensland, by Henry Charles Rawnsley. The bird was described as a new species by Silvester Diggles and was named Rawnsley’s Bowerbird. The more widely accepted conclusion is that it was an adult hybrid cross between a Regent Bowerbird and a Satin Bowerbird. The specimen in question was predominantly glossy blue-back like the adult male Satin Bowerbird, with an extensive yellow wing patch, yellow tips on some tail feathers, similar to the Regent Bowerbird, and had a pale violet-blue iris. The two bowerbird genera involved are closely related and the grouping of these has been suggested (Chapter 2). Only a single specimen matching the description given for Rawnsley’s Bowerbird has been recorded since, when a bird was photographed in November 2003 in Lamington National Park near Binna Burra, Queensland, although many other wild hybrids between the Regent and Satin Bowerbirds have been recorded and photographed. Rawnsley’s Bowerbird is not accepted as a valid species.

      Within species accounts measurements are given for critical body parts. These measurements cover all subspecies and populations within each species’s distributions, including New Guinea for the Spotted Catbird and Fawn-breasted Bowerbird, and thus may be quite broad in their range.

      2

      CLASSIFICATION AND

      MORPHOLOGY

      The Ptilonorhynchidae comprises 20 species, which are divided into five genera: Ailuroedus (3), Amblyornis (6), Ptilonorhynchus (6), Scenopoeetes (1), and Sericulus (4). Each of these genera are represented in Australia and four are found in New Guinea. The 20 species are also almost equally divided between the two regions with eight species endemic to Australia, 10 to New Guinea and two species, the Fawn-breasted Bowerbird and the Spotted Catbird, occurring in both regions.

      The catbirds, so named because of their wailing cat-like calls, belong to the genus Ailuroedus. This group has had the most opposition to its grouping within the bowerbirds. The catbirds are monogamous (males mating with only one female in a single season), with both parents caring for the offspring, whereas all of the other 17 species are polygynous (with males mating with two or more females in a single season), with the offspring being cared for solely by the female. DNA studies indicate that the link between

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1