What bird builds decorated structures to attract a mate?
Quick answer
The bowerbird is famous for building elaborate structures called bowers to attract mates. Males of these Australian and New Guinean birds arrange twigs into avenues, towers or huts, then decorate them with carefully chosen objects such as berries, flowers, shells and even bottle caps.
What is a bower?
A bower is not a nest. It’s a display stage built purely to impress females. After mating, the female builds a separate, simple nest and raises the chicks alone.
Bower styles
| Species | Bower type | Decorations |
|---|---|---|
| Satin bowerbird | Two parallel walls of sticks (an avenue) | Almost anything blue: feathers, flowers, pens, straws |
| Great bowerbird | Long avenue | White and gray objects, arranged to create an optical illusion |
| Vogelkop bowerbird | A hut-like tower up to 2 m wide | Piles of colorful fruit, flowers and beetle wings |
| Golden bowerbird | Tower of sticks up to 3 m tall | Lichen and flowers |
Art, illusion and effort
- Great bowerbirds arrange objects from small to large as they get farther from the bower. Researchers think this creates a forced perspective, making the male look bigger to the watching female.
- Satin bowerbirds sometimes “paint” their bower walls with chewed plant material mixed with saliva.
- Males constantly rearrange decorations and may steal items from rival bowers.
Why females care
A great bower shows that a male is healthy, clever and hardworking. Females visit several bowers, watch the males dance and sing, and then choose a partner. It’s a classic example of sexual selection, the idea Charles Darwin used to explain showy features in animals.
Where to see them
There are about 20 species, found in Australia and New Guinea. Satin bowerbirds often live near people in eastern Australia, and their blue collections sometimes include plastic clothespins and straws.
Darwin developed his ideas after the voyage of HMS Beagle. For more remarkable birds, see the fastest bird.
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