The Bowerbird, particularly the male, is a genius artist in nest building, unmatched by any other bird.
Bowerbirds are distributed across Australia and New Guinea. There are various species, each with different nesting styles, material selection, and decoration methods, as well as unique ways of offering their homes to the “beautiful birds” of each species.
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(Photo: trulyaustralia) |
The Purple Bowerbird resides in the eastern tropical rainforests of Australia. When the male reaches maturity and the breeding season begins, he starts building a bower to court a mate. First, he flies high to select a “site,” which is an area not too shaded, clearing a space of about one meter, and arranging branches to create a shaded pathway leading to a house that is several tens of centimeters long. Then he begins constructing the bower, choosing young green leaves, blue and yellow flowers, blue berries, and parrot feathers for decoration. Sometimes, he even collects glass marbles, colored buttons, yarn, and glitter to embellish his home. He uses juicy blue berries as interior decorations. The entrance faces south to catch sunlight and provide ventilation. The area in front of the entrance is covered with fine grass, and inside, he collects various “decorative items” such as leaves, flowers, fruits, mushrooms, quartz, utensils, eyeglasses, coins, and shells. These treasures accumulate during his explorations. When the flowers and fruits dry up, he replaces them with new finds. He tries his best to gather as much as possible, even stealing from rivals.
When the female arrives, he flutters around excitedly, showcasing the beauty of his bower and performing a charming courtship dance, displaying each item until the female is won over, and they can proceed to their “honeymoon.”
“The wedding chamber” of the bowerbird is solely for “courtship.” The actual nesting site for raising offspring is a separate nest that the female constructs later. This nest is bowl-shaped and built on open ground or on a tree branch, several hundred meters away from the wedding chamber. At this point, they have “divorced,” with the female bearing all the responsibilities of raising the young, while the male busies himself with building another wedding chamber and seducing a different female.
A bowerbird constructing its nest (Photo: aviceda)
