The
Satin Bowerbird,
Ptilonorhynchus violaceus is a
bowerbirdThis article is about the family of birds called bowerbirds. For the band, see Bowerbirds .Bowerbirds and catbirds make up the bird family Ptilonorhynchidae. The family has 20 species in eight genera. These are medium-sized passerines, ranging from the Golden Bowerbird to the Great Bowerbird...
common in rainforest and tall wet
sclerophyllSclerophyll is a type of vegetation that has hard leaves and short internodes . The word comes from the Greek sclero and phyllon . Sclerophyllous plants occur in all parts of the world but are most typical of Australia...
forest in eastern
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
from southern
QueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia that occupies the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
to
VictoriaVictoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales to the north, South Australia to the west, and Tasmania to the south, across the Bass Strait. Victoria is the most densely populated state, with over 70% of...
. There is also an isolated population in the Wet Tropics of north
QueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia that occupies the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
.
Like all bowerbirds, the Satin Bowerbird shows highly complex
courtshipCourtship is the traditional dating period before engagement and marriage. During a courtship, a couple dates to get to know each other and decide if there will be an engagement...
behaviour. Mate choice in Satin Bowerbirds has been studied in detail by a group of researchers at the
University of Maryland, College ParkThe University of Maryland, College Park is a public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C. Founded in 1856, the University of Maryland is the flagship institution of the University System of Maryland...
.
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The
Satin Bowerbird,
Ptilonorhynchus violaceus is a
bowerbirdThis article is about the family of birds called bowerbirds. For the band, see Bowerbirds .Bowerbirds and catbirds make up the bird family Ptilonorhynchidae. The family has 20 species in eight genera. These are medium-sized passerines, ranging from the Golden Bowerbird to the Great Bowerbird...
common in rainforest and tall wet
sclerophyllSclerophyll is a type of vegetation that has hard leaves and short internodes . The word comes from the Greek sclero and phyllon . Sclerophyllous plants occur in all parts of the world but are most typical of Australia...
forest in eastern
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
from southern
QueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia that occupies the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
to
VictoriaVictoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales to the north, South Australia to the west, and Tasmania to the south, across the Bass Strait. Victoria is the most densely populated state, with over 70% of...
. There is also an isolated population in the Wet Tropics of north
QueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia that occupies the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
.
Like all bowerbirds, the Satin Bowerbird shows highly complex
courtshipCourtship is the traditional dating period before engagement and marriage. During a courtship, a couple dates to get to know each other and decide if there will be an engagement...
behaviour. Mate choice in Satin Bowerbirds has been studied in detail by a group of researchers at the
University of Maryland, College ParkThe University of Maryland, College Park is a public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C. Founded in 1856, the University of Maryland is the flagship institution of the University System of Maryland...
. Males build specialized stick structures, called bowers, which they decorate with blue, yellow, and shiny objects if these are available, including berries, flowers, and even ballpoint pens, drinking straws and other discarded plastic items. As the males mature they use more blue objects than other colours. Females visit these and choose which male they will allow to mate with them. In addition to building their bowers, males carry out intense behavioural displays called dances to woo their mates, but these can be treated as threat displays by the females. Nestbuilding and incubation are carried out by the females alone. Recent research has shown that female mate choice takes place in three stages:
- Visits to the bowers, before nests have been built, while the males are absent
- Visits to the bowers, before nests have been built, while the males are present and displaying
- Visits to a selection of the bowers, after nests have been built, leading to copulation with (typically) a single male.
Experimental manipulations of the ornaments around the bowers have shown that the choices of young females (those in their first or second year of breeding) are mainly influenced by the appearance of the bowers, and hence by the first stage of this process. Older females, which are less affected by the threatening aspect of the males' displays, make their choices more on the basis of the males' dancing displays. It has been hypothesized that as males mature their colour discrimination develops and they are able to select more blue objects for the bower.
It is not yet known whether this description would also hold good for other species of bowerbird.
Males are uniformly coloured in a deep shiny blue.
Females might be mistaken for the
Green CatbirdThe Green Catbird, Ailuroedus crassirostris is a species of bowerbird found on subtropical forests along the east coast of Australia, from southeastern Queensland to southern New South Wales. Its colouring is emerald green, with faint black markings on the face and white streaks on the neck.Green...
or
Spotted CatbirdThe Spotted Catbird, Ailuroedus melanotis is a species of bowerbird which can be found in north Queensland, Australia, and the island of New Guinea. It is approximately 26-30 cm in length, and its coloring is emerald green, with faint black markings on the face and white streaks on the neck...
with distinctively green/brown or otherwise entirely brown upper body and lighter under body, but with very striking lilac eyes.
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