The Extraordinary Complex Bowerbird

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Ranked #4,073 in Animals, #88,715 overall

Why are the Bowerbirds so Unique?

Male Golden-fronted Bowerbirds are rare exotic birds. I have one featured in a mating dance in rare video footage of it here.

The Fawn-breasted Bowerbird is distributed in New Guinea and northern Australia, where it inhabits the tropical forests, mangroves, savanna woodlands and forest edges.

The Great Bowerbird,is a common and conspicuous resident of northern Australia

The Western Bowerbird is a Bowerbird common in arid Central Australia and the Pilbara region of Western Australia

The Spotted Bowerbird is widely distributed across inland Queensland and New South Wales.

The Satin Bowerbird,is common in rainforest and tall wet sclerophyll forest in eastern Australia from southern Queensland to Victoria. There is also an isolated population in the Wet Tropics of north Queensland.

An Australian endemic, the Regent Bowerbird is distributed to rainforests and margins of eastern Australia, from central Queensland to New South Wales.


The Golden Bowerbird is a species of bowerbird found in the rainforests above 700m of Atherton, Queensland in Australia.

The Bowerbirds 

The Bowerbirds: Ptilonorhynchidae (Bird Families of the World)

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The bowerbirds are confined to the great island of New Guinea and the island continent of Australia, and their immediately adjacent islands. They are medium-sized birds, omnivorous and largely solitary. They are unique in the avian world in that the males build elaborate 'bowers': structures of sticks, grasses or other plant stems on or close to the ground for display and courtship, often incorporating objects such as colourful fruits, flowers, feathers, bones, stones, shells, insect skeletons, and numerous other natural (and human-made) objects.

Extraordinary video 

....required viewing before you leave this lens :)

David Attenborough - Animal behaviour of the Australian bowerbird - BBC wildlife

David Attenborough observes the bower bird's intriguing behaviour. From the BBC.

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Attenborough and Bowerbird bower
A direct link to David Attenborough and the Bowerbird bower

Disc 2 begins with a 2000 segment of the Natural World series titled "Bowerbirds: The Art of Seduction,"  

This dvd is a tribute to David Attenborough and a treat for us.

Attenborough in Paradise and Other Personal Voyages

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Disc 2 begins with a 2000 segment of the Natural World series titled "Bowerbirds: The Art of Seduction," and it's one of the most entertaining programs of Attenborough's career. Attenborough studies the entire family of Bowerbirds, whose remarkably meticulous sculptures, structures, and decorations represent the only example in nature (outside of humankind) of creatures that attract mates through the creation of beautiful works of art.

 

Duelling Bowerbirds

a day in the life of a satin bowerbird and his mate(s); 10-second snippets taken using an automatic trail-camera

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Automatic Trail Camera 

---- on SALE at Amazon

Bushnell Trail Scout w/ Mossy Oak Shadow Branch Camo Trial Camera

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* 3.0 high-quality, full-color images
* Infrared sensor is motion activated out to 90'
* Cable lock, padlock and tree bracket
* Flash range of 30'
* Mossy Oak camo

What is a Bower? Why does the Bowerbird build a bower? How is it different than the nest? 

The most notable characteristic of bowerbirds is the extraordinarily complex behaviour of males, which is to build a bower to attract mates. Depending on the species, the bower ranges from a circle of cleared earth with a small pile of twigs in the center to a complex and highly decorated structure of sticks and leaves - usually shaped like a walkway, a small hut or a maypole - into and around which the male places a variety of objects he has collected. These objects - usually strikingly blue in hue - may include hundreds of shells, leaves, flowers, feathers, stones, berries, and even discarded plastic items or pieces of glass. The bird spends hours carefully sorting and arranging his collection, with each object in a specific place; if an object is moved while the bowerbird is away he will put it back in its place. No two bowers are the same, and the collection of objects reflects the personal taste of each bird and its ability to procure unusual and rare items (going as far as stealing them from neighboring bowers). At mating time, the female will go from bower to bower, watching as the male owner conducts an often elaborate mating ritual and inspecting the quality of the bower. Many females end up selecting the same male, and many underperforming males are left without mates.

source:wikipedia

 

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Satin bowerbird with mealworm Photography Framed Art Poster Print by Jason Edwards, 29x21

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* Framed Art Print Title: Satin bowerbird with mealworm
* Artist: Jason Edwards
* Size: 29 x 22 inches
* Frame: Black Box Stem (3/4")

 

Regent Bowerbird, Male, Australia Photographic Poster Print by Kenneth Day, 24x32

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* Photographic Print Title: Regent Bowerbird, Male, Australia
* Artist: Kenneth Day
* Size: 24 x 32 inches

Regent Bowerbird 

The Regent Bowerbird, Sericulus chrysocephalus is a medium-sized, up to 25cm long, sexually dimorphic bowerbird. The male bird is black with a golden orange-yellow crown, mantle and black-tipped wing feathers. It has yellow bill, black feet and yellow iris. The female is a brown bird with whitish or...

Featuring: A male Golden-fronted Bowerbird, found only in the Foja Mountains 

Rare video footage

Sneak Peek: Garden Of Eden (CBS News)

See Bob Simon in a pristine paradise where only a few humans have ever set foot, many new species are being discovered, and cameras catch exotic birds in a mating dance, on Sunday's 60 Minutes. (CBSNews.com)

Runtime: 2:12
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The Wattled smoky honeyeater photo
See a National Geographic Photograph. Scientists discovered the bird on a recent expedition to the Foja Mountains of Indonesia, on the island of New Guinea.
Berlepsch's six-wired bird of paradise
This is the first photograph ever taken of what scientists are calling New Guinea's "lost" bird of paradise.
A trip to The Foja Mountains
Here you will see:
Wattled Smoky Honey Eater
Black Sickle Bill Bird of Paradise
Golden-fronted bowerbird
Berlepsch's Six-Wired Bird of Paradise

Australia Birds 

The Slater Field Guide to Australian Birds: revised and updated

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Revised and updated edition of the classic Slater Field Guide to Australian Birds. Now a household name among birdwatchers it is the book to which both beginners turn to and experienced birdwatchers rely on.

Please leave a message 

Map of Papua New Guinea, Pacific

Map of Papua New Guinea, Pacific Photographic Print

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susannaduffy wrote...

What a delightful little lens. Would you like to add this to the wander Downunder Group? (/groups/downunder). I hope so

ReplyPosted April 11, 2009

henrykaye wrote...

Beautiful lens! 5*

ReplyPosted September 24, 2008

wahguide wrote...

Beautiful birds. I enjoyed the vidoes. The Fruit Dove below is pretty colorful as well.

ReplyPosted August 18, 2008

ElizabethJeanAllen wrote...

What a fascinating bird! The videos and pictures are great!
5* and favored
Lizzy

ReplyPosted August 06, 2008

mulberry wrote...

What an industrious little guy! The videos are great. Excellent lens!

ReplyPosted February 09, 2008

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Wompoo Fruit Dove 

Wompoo Fruit Dove (Ptilinopus Magnificus), Iron Range National Park, Queensland, Australia

Buy at Art.com Wompoo Fruit Dove (Ptilin... Mitch Reardon 30x40 Phot... Buy From Art.com

Wompoo Fruit-dove 

The Wompoo fruit-dove (Ptilinopus magnificus), also known as magnificent fruit-dove or purple-breasted fruit-dove, is the largest of fruit-doves native to New Guinea and Australia.

 

The Laughing Kookaburra

The Blank Park Zoo presents the Laughing Kookaburra at the Blank Park Zoo

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Nature inspired designs

Includes the mating dance of the Golden Fronted Bower Bird 

60 Minutes - Garden of Eden (December 16, 2007)

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A 60 Minutes camera is the first to catch the mating dances of two rare birds: the Black Sickle-bill Bird of Paradise and the Golden Fronted Bower Bird.

Rare and Endangered Birds 

190 birds are on the endangered list - here are pictures of 6 of them.
Rare Birds of the World
Critically Endangered is the Kakapo (seen to the left) in New Zealand.Featured here with pictures are:The KakapoWhite-winged GuanWaved AlbatrossSiberian CranePhilippine EagleEskimo Curlew

MP3 - Bowerbird 

Check out my favorite songs! I've handpicked these MP3s from Amazon. Take a listen. If you like, you can click to buy them on Amazon.

by World-Birder

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