Tim Laman

PHOTO GALLERIES: BOWERBIRDS

Bowerbirds are a group of catbirds that live in Australia and New Guinea. They have a unique courtship behavior that involves building a structure called a bower. The bower can be simple as some leaves around a sapling to elaborate as a large dome made of sticks. They decorate the court around the bower with different objects to attract females.

To view more images, please visit the Bowerbirds gallery on Tim Laman's online archive.

A female's view of a Great Bowerbird (Chlamydera nuchalis) male displaying with one of his prize decorations (in this case a pink paper clip found on a college campus).
   
Bower of Vogelkopf Bowerbird (Amblyornis inornatus) decorated with various types of trash and some flowers.
   
Bower of the Vogelkopf Bowerbird (Amblyornis inornatus) decorated with piles of acorns, black fungi, and pandanus flowers.
     
  
A Great Bowerbird (Chlamydera nuchalis) male at his bower with green glass, plastic toy elephan, toy soldier, and other decorations.
   
Satin Bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus minor) male displays to a female who has entered his bower. He holds a cicada case in his bill.
   
Male Vogelkopf Bowerbird (Amblyornis inornatus) at a new bower which he is constructing with a stick to add to the bower.
     
  
Bower of a Vogelkopf Bowerbird (Amblyornis inornatus) decorated with blue berries, dark orange fungi, and orange leaves.The male bowerbird stands in his bower entrance, holding an orange fruit he has just brought to decorate his bower with.
   
Bower of a Vogelkopf Bowerbird (Amblyornis inornatus) decorated with Piper leaves, orange fungi, and blue berries.
   
Satin Bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus minor) male "painting" the inner walls of his bower with masticated plant matter. Note the substance on his bill. This bower is decorated with all natural objects.
     
  
Bower of a Vogelkopf Bowerbird (Amblyornis inornatus) decorated primarily with a huge spread of acorns, plus a small pile of orange fruits.
   
Bower of a Great Bowerbird (Chlamydera nuchalis) located far from civilization in the dry forest west of the village of Irvinebank. Decorations are mostly stones with a few snail shells, green fruits, and pieces of green glass.
   
Satin Bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus) male at his bower, which is decorated with many blue plastic items, and a blue feather of a Crimson Rosella parrot which the bowerbird is holding.
     
  
Bower of a Vogelkopf Bowerbird (Amblyornis inornatus) decorated with a pile of blue colored rotting wood, a blue mushroom, blue berries, orange fruits, and piles of black fungi and orange pandanus flowers.
   
Bower of a Vogelkopf Bowerbird (Amblyornis inornatus) decorated with large spread of red/orange colored fruits of a type eaten by cassowaries, and a pile of black fungi.
   
Rain forest of the remote Arfak Mountains of New Guinea, with Bower of a Vogelkopf Bowerbird (Amblyornis inornatus) decorated with blue berries, and with a clump of orange flowers placed by the bowerbird peripheral to the bower.
     
  
A Great Bowerbird (Chlamydera nuchalis) male at his bower with green glass, plastic toy elephan, toy soldier, and other decorations.