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BOWERBIRD SPECIES
Bowerbird belong to the bird family Ptilonorhynchidae. This family has 27 species in eight genera of which about 20 are recognized as bower-building bowerbirds, including a couple catbirds. Bowers are shelter-like or courtyard-like structures built by male bowerbirds to attract females. Other species in the Ptilonorhynchidae family are mostly catbirds, which mostly don’t build bowers.
Bowerbird bowers generally fall into two types: 1) avenue bowers, built with two parallel walls of sticks forming a tunnel, and 2) maypole bowers, constructed by weaving sticks around a central sapling. The three most common species are great bowerbirds, spotted bowerbirds and satin bowerbirds. The bluejay-size satin bowerbird has some unusual behavior and lives in forested areas along Australia’s east coast. Vogelkop bowerbird in northwest New Guinea build the most elaborate bowers.
bowerbirds, their relatives and similar birds in Australia: 1) Lewin honeyeater, 2) yellow-throated scrub-wren, 3) grey whistler, 4) magnificent riflebird, 5) Victoria riflebird, 6) paradise riflebird, 7) shining starling, 8) regent bowerbird, 9) golden bowerbird, 10) spangled drongo, 11) manucode, 12) koei, 13) satin bowerbird
Bowerbird species:
Maypole-builders
Genus Amblyornis
Vogelkop bowerbird (Amblyornis inornata)
MacGregor's bowerbird (Amblyornis macgregoriae)
Huon bowerbird (Amblyornis germanus)
Streaked bowerbird (Amblyornis subalaris)
Golden-fronted bowerbird (Amblyornis flavifrons)
Genus Prionodura
Golden bowerbird (Prionodura newtoniana)
Genus Scenopoeetes
Tooth-billed catbird (Scenopoeetes dentirostris)
Genus Archboldia
Archbold's bowerbird (Archboldia papuensis)
Avenue-builders
Genus Sericulus
Flame bowerbird (Sericulus ardens)
Masked bowerbird (Sericulus aureus)
Fire-maned bowerbird (Sericulus bakeri)
Regent bowerbird (Sericulus chrysocephalus)
Genus Ptilonorhynchus)
Satin bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus)
Genus Chlamydera)
Western bowerbird (Chlamydera guttata)
Spotted bowerbird (Chlamydera maculata)
Great bowerbird (Chlamydera nuchalis)
Eastern great bowerbird (Chlamydera (nuchalis) orientalis (possibly a distinct species)
Yellow-breasted bowerbird (Chlamydera lauterbachi)
Fawn-breasted bowerbird (Chlamydera cerviniventris
True catbirds
Genus Ailuroedus
Ochre-breasted catbird (Ailuroedus stonii)
satin bowerbirds in different stages of development
White-eared catbird (Ailuroedus buccoides)
Tan-capped catbird (Ailuroedus geislerorum)
Green catbird (Ailuroedus crassirostris)
Spotted catbird (Ailuroedus maculosus)
Huon catbird (Ailuroedus astigmaticus)
Black-capped catbird (Ailuroedus melanocephalus)
Northern catbird (Ailuroedus jobiensis)
Arfak catbird (Ailuroedus arfakianus)
Black-eared catbird (Ailuroedus melanotis)
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Vogelkop Bowerbirds
Vogelkop bowerbirds (Amblyornis inornata) are also known as Vogelkop gardener bowerbirds, They are medium-sized bowerbirds — about 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) in length — found mostly in the Arfak mountains on the Bird's Head Peninsula of northwestern New Guinea in West Papua, Indonesia. The sexes have similar plumage but the male is a little bit bigger. They are mainly olive brown in colour, though somewhat paler below, without ornamental plumage. They are one of the dullest-colored bowerbirds but they create one of the largest and most elaborate bowers. Vogelkop bowerbirds not endangered or threatened. They are designated as a species of least concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Because of their unadorned and plain plumage, they are not sought after by hunters and are a fairly common species within their limited range. Vogelkop bowerbirds are regarded as one of the gardener bowerbirds, which build the most elaborate bowers. All but one them live in the forests of New Guinea.
J. Albert C. Uy wrote in Natural History magazine: This uniformly brown creature was scientifically christened Amblyornis inornatus — its species name taken from the Latin for “unadorned.” Its behavior, however, is reflected in the name used by local New Guineans: burung pintar, or “clever bird.” [Source: J. Albert C. Uy, Natural History magazine, March 2002]
Vogelkop bowerbird bower
The dimensions of a Vogelkop bower are even more impressive given the size of the builder. Weighing less than five and a half ounces, a Vogelkop male is not much bigger than an American robin. Great time and energy are thus invested in constructing and maintaining the relatively colossal bowers, illustrating the lengths to which the birds go to attract females. The bower is not used as a roost or a nest site. Females, which usually mate with only one male in a season, rear their young on their own, building simple bowl-shaped nests six inches in diameter and six to ten feet up in a tree.
Hut-building Vogelkops inhabit New Guinea’s Tamrau and Wandammen Mountains as well as the Arfak range. In 1981 physiologist Jared Diamond, of the University of California, Los Angeles, found an isolated population of Vogelkop bowerbirds in the Kumawa Mountains, about 100 miles south of the Arfaks.
Bower of the Vogelkop Bowerbird
Vogelkop bowerbirds create the most complex bowerbird bowers and perhaps the most elaborate structure made by any animal other than humans. Some are big enough for two people to crawl inside. "Two saplings in the center support its conical roof, thatched with dried stems of orchids. The ground immediately in front is it is slanted with a lawn of moss. On this are the owner's treasures, neatly arranged in piles according to their character — black beetle wing-covers, scarlet berries, shiny black fruits as big as plums, the huge squat acorns of the local oak, fragments of orange fungi and...a great heap of orange-colored dead leaves." Different birds select different objects for their collections.
J. Albert C. Uy wrote in Natural History magazine, A male Vogelkop selects a forest sapling and tightly weaves sticks around it, shaping a conical hut that can reach six feet in width and four feet in height. Huts typically have a single doorway, neatly trimmed to form a perfect arch, which opens out onto a thick carpet of moss up to six feet square, also laid by the industrious male. [Source: J. Albert C. Uy, Natural History magazine, March 2002]
Vogelkop bowerbird range in northwest New Guinea
On this mossy stage, the male displays thousands of objects he has collected from the surrounding forest, including orange rhododendron flowers, yellow leaves, blue fruits, red ginger berries, iridescent blue beetle carapaces, shiny fungi, and feathers from other birds, such as birds of paradise. (At one site we studied, a male pilfered a strip of blue tarp from our camp and laid it under his doorway; another stole a pair of knee-high green socks with bright yellow stripes.) Males arrange these objects according to color and size and promptly remove any that decay. In fact, the best way to coerce a male to come down from the forest canopy and onto his bower is to mix up his decorations. He quickly returns and puts everything back in order, sometimes in the presence of a surprised spectator.
The Vogelkops of Kumawa (and the adjacent Fakfak range) construct strikingly different bowers. Instead of elaborate huts, these birds erect five-foot-high, spindly spires. Made of sticks loosely interwoven around a sapling, the spire resembles a dry Christmas tree. At the base of the spire, the male neatly lays a circular carpet, usually of black moss. The decorations are spartan, consisting exclusively of drab objects such as brown bamboo bark, black seedpods, and brown snail shells, all arranged by color and type near the carpet’s perimeter. Given their distinct bower styles and color preferences, and the species-specific character of most bowers, one might guess that spire builders and hut builders are two kinds of bowerbirds. Yet they are physically identical and are classified as the same species.
Vogelkop Bowerbird Bower and Darwin’s Theory of Sexual Selection
J. Albert C. Uy wrote in Natural History magazine: The Arfak hut builders and the Fakfak spire builders also presented another opportunity — testing the the idea of sexual selction first posited by Charles Darwin more than a century ago and still being debated. [Source: J. Albert C. Uy, Natural History magazine, March 2002]
The hut-building and spire-building populations of Vogelkop bowerbirds show no signs of changes in bill structure, plumage, wing shape, or other features that would indicate they are adapting to new conditions in their mountain habitats. But their mating signals — bowers — vary dramatically. Could these birds and their bowers be an example of sexual selection leading to the formation of new species? We began field studies to test whether this could be the case.
Scientists have found that in most bowerbird species, the colors of the bower decorations are those that both males and females prefer. But what if spire-building Vogelkop males also prefer colorful decorations but are forced by a lack of these ornaments in their immediate habitat to make do with brown or black bower accents? Jared Diamond first tested this idea in the hut builders of the Wandammens and the spire builders of the Kumawas by offering males poker chips of six different colors. He found that the hut builders strongly preferred bright colors, while the spire builders typically ignored them.
For the complete article from which the material here is derived see “Say It With Bowers” By J. Albert C. Uy, Natural History magazine, March 2002] nhmag.com
Regent Bowerbirds
Regent bowerbirds (Sericulus chrysocephalus) are medium-sized sexually dimorphic bowerbirds. Males are black with a golden orange-yellow crown, mantle and black-tipped wing feathers. They have a yellow bill, black feet and yellow iris. Females are brown with whitish or fawn markings, grey bill, black feet and crown. Their name commemorates a prince regent of the United Kingdom.
Regent bowerbirds are found only in Australia — in temperate forests and tropical rainforests on the east coast, east of the Great Dividing Range, in southeast Queensland and northeast New South Wales at elevations up 900 meters (2952 feet). They prefer dense trees and gullies. Bowers are often built in dense liana thickets, with only a few built on open forest floor. Regent bowerbirds mostly stay in the same area year-round, but in the winter they may move from higher altitudes to coastal areas. Their total range covers an area of about 20,000 to 50,000 square kilometers (7,722 to 19,305 square miles.) [Source: Aqua Nara Dakota, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) |=|]
Regent bowerbirds are not endangered or threatened. They are designated as a species of least concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Regent bowerbirds are relatively common. They sometimes visit picnic areas and backyards and occasionally steal objects they find interesting from human settlements, including items from ancient human middens, confusing archaeologists.
Regent Bowerbirds Characteristics, Diet and Behavior
Regent bowerbirds have an average weight of 100 grams (3.52 ounces) and range in length from 25 to 30 centimeters (9.8 to 11.8 inches), with their average length being 28 centimeters (11 inches). They have a long and slim bill compared to the other species of bowerbirds. Males are mostly shiny black with glossy gold patches on their crowns, the backs of their necks, and the distal ends of their wings. They have yellow bills and eyes. Females are mottled brown with a scalloped pattern of dark and light brown. The eyes and bill are brown, with a little yellow in the eyes, in females. Immature males share features of both sexes, with their lower parts similar to females in coloration and their heads, necks, and wings darker and more similar to males. Males have brownish eyes, which change to yellow in their second year. It usually takes between two and five years for a male to attain mature plumage. [Source: Aqua Nara Dakota, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) |=|]
Male regents bowerbird
Regent bowerbirds fly and are diurnal (active mainly during the daytime), motile (move around as opposed to being stationary), sedentary (remain in the same area), solitary, territorial (defend an area within the home range). They are solitary during the breeding season. Females and immature males may form groups in the winter. They communicate through visual displays and vocalizations. and sense using vision, touch, sound and chemicals usually detected with smell. Color is very important, as seen in their bower decorations.
Regent bowerbirds omnivores (eat a variety of things, including plants and animals) They are primarily herbivores (eat plants or plants parts) and frugivores (eat fruit). Animal foods include insects. Regent bowerbirds mainly eat fruit. They forage mostly in the canopy and upper parts of tree foliage. They also take insects opportunistically.The female's desire to forage for fruits of a certain color seems to be exploited by males decorating their bowers. In a study by Madden and Tanner (2003), grapes of different colors were used to determine preferences. Male preference for blue decorations was found to be correlated with female preference for eating blue grapes.
Regent Bowerbirds Bowers, Reproduction and Courtship
Regent bowerbirds are polygynous (males have more than one female as a mate at one time). They engage in seasonal breeding — once a year from September to March. The number of eggs laid each season ranges from one to two. Females incubate eggs and raise the young without help from males. Females build shallow nests of twigs and leaves. They choose locations in foliage, often on patches of mistletoe or in a small crook of a tree. Eggs are elliptical and covered in wavy lines. If two eggs are laid, they are laid two days apart. The average time to hatching is 25 days. Young are altricial, meaning they are relatively underdeveloped at birth, but they grow and mauture fast, with independence occurring on average at 22 days. [Source: Aqua Nara Dakota, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) |=|]
range of regents bowerbird
Aqua Nara Dakota wrote in Animal Diversity Web: During breeding season, males build avenue-type bowers: unroofed corridors made out of sticks and decorations. Bowers are usually constructed by mature males, though occasionally immature males build them as well. It only takes a few hours to construct a bower, which is much less time than the days or weeks required by other bowerbird species. Each male usually has one bower at a time, though some have two. Color is very important to the bowerbirds, and even unnatural objects like plastic will be used if they are the right color. Generally only the builder of the bower maintains it, though maintenance behavior has been exhibited by visiting males. |=|
Adult bower owners spend an average of three percent of the day working on their bowers, usually building or maintaining them. Only about one percent of their daylight hours are spent vocalizing, whether they are courting a female or displaying to a male. Immature bower owners spent far more time in each activity, up to four times more effort. However, regent bowerbirds spend far less time on bowers than other bowerbird species. This lack of time at the bower is explained by their habit of beginning courtship in the canopy. Bower owners often raid other bowers nearby in order to damage them or steal decorations. Favorite decorations include fruit, snail shells, and blue plastic, all of which are vulnerable to thieving. Green leaves are often present but not stolen as much as other objects.
Morrell and Kokko (2004) studied raiding behavior in six species of bowerbird. Of the six, they found regent bowerbirds raided the most at 0.264 raids per day. Raiders also cause destruction of the bower. Slight damage is often repaired, but if the bower is badly damaged, the owner will relocate and build a new one. Often, before relocating, the owner will completely destroy the bower. Only one bower in a study by Lenz (1994) was rebuilt after being severely damaged, and it was owned by an immature male. Due to all this destruction, bowers don't last long. In Lenz's study, bowers only lasted ten days before abandonment or destruction. |=|
Courtship is initiated in the canopy. The arboreal (live mainly in trees), part of the courtship resembles the bower display, but is simpler. After courtship, the female is escorted to the bower, where the male continues to display. Sometimes the female arrives at the bower on her own, but females who arrived on their own did not mate with the bower owner. The male display includes showing her the back of his neck, flicking his wings, and offering her decorations from his bower.
If the female is interested, she sits in the avenue or its entrance and watches the male display for over 20 minutes before allowing copulation. Disinterested females leave the bower. A display time of over twenty minutes (averaging 24.5 minutes) is much longer than display times of other bowerbird species, which suggests the male's display is more important in courtship and may be why their bowers are less complex and less well tended than in other species. Females often visit more than one bower, but it is unclear whether this results in multiple copulations.
MacGregor's Bowerbirds
MacGregor's bowerbirds (Amblyornis macgregoriae) are a medium-sized, long, olive-brown bowerbirds that live New Guinea's mountain forests. They are roughly the size and shape of American robins or Eurasian blackbirds. Males are adorned with an erectile orange yellow crest, that is partly hidden and shown in courtship display. The unadorned female is similar to the male, but without the crest.
Macgregor’s bowerbirds are widespread in eastern and central New Guinea in Papua New Guinea and Papua in Indonesia. They range from the eastern Owen Stanley Range in Papua New Guinea to the Adelbert Range in Papua, Indonesia but appear to be absent from West Papua, Indonesia. Macgregor’s bowerbird primarily live regularly spaced intervals in isolated mountain ranges at elevations of 1,200 to 1,400 meters (3,937 to 4,593 feet) in mixed mid-montane and Nothofagus forests in higher altitudes, along ridges. [Source: Hadley Seniff, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) |=|]
Macgregor’s bowerbirds are stocky with a stout and dark bill. Their average length is 26 centimeters (10.24 inches). Sexual Dimorphism (differences between males and females) is present: Males are larger than females. Sexes are colored or patterned differently with the male being more colorful. Adult females and are generally dark brownish with olive coloring and paler faces and necks. Adult males have glossy orange color tipping its feathers that are dark green, black, and brown in coloring. The bright orange head plume of males, causing them to stand out more so than the females.
On the IUCN Red List, Macgregor’s bowerbirds are listed as a species of Least Concern. They rarely come in contact with humans except for when they land in gardens of the indigenous people in New Guinea. The tropical montane range where they live is largely out of reach of human settlements bu is expected to decrease as a result of habitat loss and degradation. There are some sacred sites set aside by the indigenous people that prohibit the killing of birds and mammals.
MacGregor's Bowerbird Behavior and Diet
Macgregor’s bowerbirds are arboreal (live mainly in trees), terricolous (live on the ground), diurnal (active during the daytime), crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk), motile (move around as opposed to being stationary), sedentary (remain in the same area), territorial (defend an area within the home range), and have dominance hierarchies (ranking systems or pecking orders among members of a long-term social group, where dominance status affects access to resources or mates). [Source: Hadley Seniff, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) |=|]
Macgregor’s bowerbirds sense using vision, touch, sound and chemicals usually detected with smell and communicate with vision and sound, mimicry and duets (joint displays, usually between mates, and usually with highly-coordinated sounds). Males use visual displays and cues in their courtship rituals and bower construction. They also use vocalizations in courtship signaling to the females. Males use body language through the counter movements around the central bower to communicate with the female on the other side. Superb mimics, Macgregor’s bowerbirds are known for imitating other birds, pigs, rushing water, and even human speech.
Macgregor’s bowerbirds are officially omnivores (eat a variety of things, including plants and animals) and primarily herbivores (eat plants or plants parts) and frugivores (eat fruit). About 95 percent of their diet consists of medium to large drupes and arillate fruit. Arthropods make up the rest of their diet. Macgregor bowerbirds forage alone or in small groups. Females, juveniles and males all forage in the same areas revealing that the males do not defend any food sources. The males also participate in fruit caching which only takes place during the breeding season and is not related to food consumption so but is aimed more at attracting females. The males who had the most elaborate and complete bowers were found to have the most fruit cache sites.
MacGregor's Bowerbird Bowers
MacGregor's bowerbird build maypole bowers consisting of a slim vertical sapling around which a tower of twigs in built, which may be as high as three meters (ten feet high). Around base the males clears a circular runway, banked with moss. Males gather fruit for bower decorations. Their average territory size of a bower and its surroundings is 20 square meters. [Source: Hadley Seniff, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) |=|]
Male Macgregor’s bowerbird displaying its head crest feathers
Bowers are a requirement for males to mate with females. Males will not attract a mate without an elaborate and complete bower. The more time and effort the male spends on the bower potentially increases the reproductive success of the male. Male Macgregor’s bowerbird vigorously defend their bowers and always remains within a 20 meters radius of it. According to Animal Diversity Web: Bower building reveals a social system consisting of both lek behavior and territoriality. A significant relationship between the bower complexity (amount of decorations, size, color, etc.) and cerebellum size of the male bowerbird was found. This relation is driven by sexual selection; the more elaborate the bower is, the larger the cerebellum and an increase in fitness is a result.
Bowerbirds construct a maypole bower on ridgelines with a mean interbower distance of 182.8 meters. The males tend to be regularly spaced throughout available habitats on ridgelines and montane forests. A maypole bower is decorated with fruit, fungus, charcoal and insect frass selected by colors and sizes and is used in courtship.
MacGregor's Bowerbird Mating, Reproduction and Offspring
MacGregor's bowerbird are polygynandrous (promiscuous), with both males and females having multiple partners. They engage in year-round breeding and seasonal breeding. The frequency of mating is unknown. Some breed between September and February, with one to two eggs laid. The time to hatching ranges from 19 to 24 days.
MacGregor's bowerbird range
After male Macgregor's bowerbird builds his bower from sticks he summons females with long liquid calls. When one arrives, he picks up a flower in his beak and dances around the runway, peeking around the central column of the bower first from one side and then the other. The female female inspects the bower, and while she does the male dances and shows off his bright colors. The more intricate bower and the longest dancing male is usually the female's choice, because it represents the fitness of the male.
If the female likes the bower and the male’s dance she allows the male to copulate with her. Once copulation has finished, she builds her own nest and begins the parenting process alone. The male continues to work on his bower and tries mate with other females. Females build their nest out of plant material close to the male's bower and territory. The female has access to provisions (fruit) on male's territory. She lays one or two eggs.
Green Catbirds
Green catbirds (Ailuroedus crassirostris) are found primarily in the rainforests of the tropical and subtropical regions of Australia from southeastern Queensland to southern New South Wales on the east coast of Australia. Occasionally they are also found in paperbark and adjacent eucalypt forests. [Source: Amanda Kaminski, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) |=|]
Ailuroedus is a genus of birds in the bowerbird family commonly known as catbirds because oftheir "wailing cat-like calls". The scientific name Ailuroedus is derived from the Greek 'ailouros', meaning cat, and 'eidos', referring to form (or perhaps from oaidos, singer). Note that the ptilonorhynchid catbirds are different from the grey catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) and black catbird (Melanoptila glabrirostris) from the Americas, and the Abyssinian catbird (Sylviagalinieri) from Africa belong to different families.
green catbird
Catbirds are characterize by ivory-colored bill with the hooked maxilla, large head, green dorsal plumage, ventral spotting, powerful grasping claws and fig-eating habit. In contrast to the regualr bowerbirds all Ailuroedus catbirds do not exhibit sexual dimorphism, are pair bonded, monogamous breeders, with both parents caring for the offspring. They form pair bonds in which the male helps to build the nest, and have simple arboreal chasing displays, without bowers or stages.
Green catbirds are rather large, stout birds. Their average weight is 207 grams (7.3 ounces) and they range in length from 24 to 33 centimeters (9.45 to 13 inches), with their average length being 28 centimeters (11 inches). They have an overall color of emerald green with white spots and a dusky crown, nape and face with a red eye and a white bill. Juvenile green catbirds are a more dull green color. Spotted catbirds look similar but differ by having faint black markings on the face and are brighter green color. Green catbirds are sometimes confused with satin bowerbirds (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus), which are more olive green, have blue eyes, a darker bill, and more "scalloped patterning" on the underbody.
Green catbirds are fairly common. They are designated as a species of least concern on the IUCN Red List and have no special status on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Their populations are considered relatively large and stable over a range of 20,000 to 50,000 square kilometers. Humans are the biggest threat to these birds due to the destruction of their habitat. They may occasionally take cultivated fruits, although their impact is negligible. |=|
Green Catbirds Behavior, Diet, Mating and Reproduction
range of green catbird
Green catbirds are diurnal (active mainly during the daytime), motile (move around as opposed to being stationary), sedentary (remain in the same area) and territorial (defend an area within the home range). They are mostly solitary birds but can be found in mated pairs or small family groups and do not migrate. Their average territory size is two hectares (4.9 acres). This range is much reduced during the breeding season. Green catbirds primarily eat fruits, flowers, and other plant material but during the breeding season they often prey on the hatchlings of other birds or small, reptiles, to feed their young. Foraging is often done in pairs or small family groups by moving from one tree to the next in the mid and upper canopy of the forest. [Source: Amanda Kaminski, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) |=|]
Green catbirds sense using vision, touch, sound and chemicals usually detected with smell and communicate with vision and sound and employ duets (joint displays, usually between mates, and usually with highly-coordinated sounds). The call of green catbirds is said to be similar to a cat meowing or a human baby crying. They primarily use vocalizations to communicate with mates, although visual displays are part of the initial courtship.
Green catbirds are monogamous (have one mate at a time) and engage in seasonal breeding. The breeding season is from September to January. The average clutch size is two or three cream or olive colored eggs, which hatch after about 24 days of incubation. Young are altricial, meaning they are relatively underdeveloped at birth. Only female green catbirds build the nest and incubate the eggs but males are involved in the parenting process. During the pre-birth and pre-weaning stages provisioning and protecting are done by females and males. After hatching both the male and female look after and feed the young. They also both defend the territory throughout the year. This territory is used for nesting and feeding. Fledging occurs about 22 days after hatching
Like other bowerbirds, male green catbirds attempt to attract mates by displaying colorful leaves, fruits, or flowers in their beaks. According to Animal Diversity Web: When a female comes close, the male chases her from branch to branch and makes a raspy clicking sound. If the female leaves, the male preens, feeds, and calls before once again displaying the leaves, fruits, or flowers. Once the female accepts the male, they are mated for life (monogamous). Even though green catbirds are bowerbirds, they do not build a bower as do other bowerbirds. Instead they build a nest that looks like a cup composed of leaves, twigs and vines. This nest is noted for the unusual layer of soft, wet wood beneath the lining of twigs and leaves which gives the nest its thick, heavy design. The nest is set in a tree fork, tree fern, low branches of trees, or in prickly shrubs.
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org , National Geographic, Live Science, Natural History magazine, Australian Museum, David Attenborough books, Australia Geographic, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Discover magazine, The Conversation, The New Yorker, Time, BBC, CNN, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Wikipedia, The Guardian, Top Secret Animal Attack Files website and various books and other publications.
Last updated August 2025