Spotted bowerbird

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Spotted bowerbird
Spotted Bowerbird cropped.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Ptilonorhynchidae
Genus: Chlamydera
Species:
C. maculata
Binomial name
Chlamydera maculata
(Gould, 1837)
Spotted Bowerbird Distribution.png
Distribution of the spotted bowerbird
Synonyms

large-frilled bowerbird, cabbage-bird or mimic-bird.

Contents

The spotted bowerbird (Chlamydera maculata) is a sedentary, mid-sized passerine found across broad parts of the drier habitats of eastern Australia. The species is known for its remarkable behaviours, like many other bowerbirds (Ptilonorynchidae), which include bower building and decorating, courtship displays and vocal mimicry. Spotted bowerbirds are locally common, however, overall the population is thought to be in decline. [1]

Description

At 29 cm in length, spotted bowerbirds are intermediate in size among the bowerbirds, but are rather slim and compact. Spotted bowerbirds are sexually monomorphic, [2] with a pale rufous head that is streaked with grey-brown and a nape adorned with a lilac-pink crest. [3] The upperparts are blackish-brown and marked extensively with amber spots, while the paler underparts are cream with greyish scalloping and barring and a slightly yellow shade to the lower belly and undertail. [3] The bill is black, the eyes dark brown and the legs olive-brown. [3]

Spotted bowerbirds have a diverse range of vocalisations. Typical calls include loud, harsh churrings and other notes, as well as the complex vocal mimicry characteristic of grey bowerbirds. Spotted bowerbirds are accomplished vocal mimics and have been known to simulate the calls of many birds as well as other sounds. [4] [5] [6] When approached by humans or other potential threats, males at bowers and females at nests often mimic the calls of predatory birds such as the wedge-tailed eagle (Aquila audax), blue-winged kookaburra (Dacelo leachii), grey-crowned babbler (Pomatostomus temporalis), grey butcherbird (Cracticus torquatus), pied butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis), Australian magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen), Australian raven (Corvus coronoides), apostlebird (Struthidea cinerea) and honeyeaters (Meliphagidae spp.) among others. [1] Other sounds mimicked include large herbivores moving through scrub or over fallen branches, the twang of fence wire, wood chopping, the crack of stock whip and the whistling flight of crested pigeons. [1] [7] [8]

Spotted bowerbird Spot BB.jpg
Spotted bowerbird

Taxonomy and systematics

First described by John Gould [9] as Ptilonorynchus maculata, then later changed to Chlamydodera occipitalis, [10] it was again changed to Chlamydera maculata, which is the currently accepted name by some taxonomic authorities (e.g. James Clements, [11] Birdlife International [12] and ITIS [13] ). Molecular studies by Kusmierski et al. [14] lead Christidis and Boles [15] to merge the genus Chlamydera with Ptilonorynchus, leading to the current alternative name of Ptilonorynchus maculatus. See bowerbirds for higher systematics. Spotted bowerbirds were formerly considered conspecific with the western bowerbird (Ptilonorynchus guttata), until the latter was defined as a separate species by Gould. [16] The spotted bowerbird is a monotypic species with no subspecies described.

Habitat

Male and female birds near a bower, picture from The Birds of Australia, 1848 Ptilonorynchus maculatus The Birds of Australia Vol IV.jpg
Male and female birds near a bower, picture from The Birds of Australia, 1848

Spotted bowerbirds occur most commonly in dry, open sclerophyll woodlands with dense understories of small trees and shrubs, where their plumage becomes cryptic. They show particular preference for habitats dominated by eucalypt spp. (Eucalyptus) and/or brigalow (Acacia harpophylla) and have strong associations with riverine woodlands. [1] Spotted bowerbirds often inhabit orchards, parks and are known to frequent rural homesteads and gardens.

Food

The diet of spotted bowerbirds consists mostly of fruit, flowers, and seeds, but arthropods are also consumed. [1] They are also known to take food scraps from campsites and houses and raid orchards and gardens for fruit. Spotted bowerbirds usually forage alone or in small groups but are sometimes seen in flocks of 10-30 birds when not attending nests and bowers. [1]

Behaviour

Breeding

The extended breeding occurs between July and March, with most eggs laid between October and February. [1] [6]

Bowers

Bower of a spotted bowerbird Spotbow 9181 big.jpg
Bower of a spotted bowerbird

Like most bowerbirds, Spotted bowerbirds are polygynous and males build and maintain bowers and display courts. [1] These serve as a focal point for many social activities and are thought to act as an indicator of male quality for potential mates. [17] [18] [19] Spotted bowerbirds build avenue-bowers of grass and twigs, [5] [18] [20] that are wider than many other avenue-building bowerbirds. Males may paint the walls of bowers using masticated grass and saliva. [1] Bowers are generally built under large, thorny bushes that provide shelter and fruit. Some bower sites, known as traditional sites, may be retained for upwards of 20 years; and rebuilt each year by a number of males in successive years. [1]

Display courts

Display courts are located immediately adjacent to bowers and are decorated with leaves, flowers, fruits, seed pods, insect frass and exuviae, shells, eggshells, bones, stones and charcoal. [3] [17] [21] Man-made objects are also frequently used to decorate bower sites including glass, wire, foil and other metal objects. [21] The number and types of decorations are linked to the mating success of males, suggesting that decorations also play a role in mate choice by females. [21] The types of decorations preferred by spotted bowerbirds vary geographically, which may indicate that females prefer males that collect an assortment of items, depending on their location. [1]

Courtship display

Once females have been attracted to bowers successfully, males perform elaborate courtship displays that consist of central and peripheral displays, [1] with vocalisations being made throughout. Uniquely to spotted bowerbirds, the females watch the energetic display through the partially transparent northern wall of the bower. [22]

  • Central displays are performed in the immediate vicinity of the bower and involve upright posture, raised wings and presentation of the retractile lilac-pink nuchal crest, which is larger in bower-owning males. [1] [2] [3] During this phase, movements are jerky, erratic and strained. [1]
Spotted bowerbird egg Spotted Bowerbird Egg.jpg
Spotted bowerbird egg
  • Peripheral displays consist of males walking around their bower in wide circles with a raised head, open beak, cocked tail and drooped wings. [1] Males often use decorations as props during display, either holding them in their bills or picking them up and aggressively throwing them down. [1] Courtship displays can last minutes or sometimes more than an hour. [1]

Nesting

Like most bowerbirds, males take no part in parental care. Females build nests in trees and bushes, but also occasionally in mistletoes (Loranthaceae) an average of 6m above the ground. [6] Nests consist of an eggcup of fine twiglets built on a foundation of larger sticks and twigs. [6] Clutches are usually a single egg that is oval shaped and pale greenish-grey with strong vermiculations of dark brown and black. [6] Incubation and nestling periods remain unknown for this species.

Conservation status

Spotted bowerbirds are listed as least concern by the IUCN Red List [23] and are locally common, however, overall the species is thought to be in decline. [1] Local extinctions are common across much of its range, particularly in the south west. [24] [25] The species is now extinct in South Australia, where it formerly had a small range, and is listed under the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988. [26] Drivers of this decline may be illegal shooting and poisoning by humans who consider them a pest, predation by introduced species such as feral cats (Felis catus) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and habitat clearing and modification leading to fragmentation. [1]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black currawong</span> Large passerine bird endemic to Tasmania and Bass Strait islands

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bowerbird</span> Family of birds

Bowerbirds make up the bird family Ptilonorhynchidae. They are renowned for their unique courtship behaviour, where males build a structure and decorate it with sticks and brightly coloured objects in an attempt to attract a mate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great bowerbird</span> Species of bird

The great bowerbird is a common and conspicuous resident of northern Australia, from the area around Broome across the Top End to Cape York Peninsula and as far south as Mount Isa. Favoured habitat is a broad range of forest and woodland, and the margins of vine forests, monsoon forest, and mangrove swamps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Satin bowerbird</span> Species of bird

The satin bowerbird is a bowerbird endemic to eastern Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pied butcherbird</span> Black and white songbird native to Australia

The pied butcherbird is a songbird native to Australia. Described by John Gould in 1837, it is a black and white bird 28 to 32 cm long with a long hooked bill. Its head and throat are black, making a distinctive hood; the mantle and much of the tail and wings are also black. The neck, underparts and outer wing feathers are white. The juvenile and immature birds are predominantly brown and white. As they mature their brown feathers are replaced by black feathers. There are two recognised subspecies of pied butcherbird.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-plumed honeyeater</span> Species of bird

The white-plumed honeyeater is a small passerine bird endemic to Australia. White-plumed honeyeaters are common around water and are often seen in backyards and suburbs with vegetation cover.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whistling kite</span> Species of bird

The whistling kite is a medium-sized diurnal raptor found throughout Australia, New Caledonia and much of New Guinea. Also called the whistling eagle or whistling hawk, it is named for its loud whistling call, which it often gives in flight. Some authorities put this species in the genus Milvus, despite marked differences in behaviour, voice and plumage between this species and other members of that genus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Topknot pigeon</span> Species of bird

The topknot pigeon is a pigeon native to eastern Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King of Saxony bird-of-paradise</span> Species of bird

The King of Saxony bird-of-paradise is a bird in the bird-of-paradise family (Paradisaeidae). It is the only member of the genus Pteridophora. It is endemic to montane forest in New Guinea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Superb lyrebird</span> Species of bird

The superb lyrebird is an Australian passerine songbird, one of two species from the family Menuridae, with the other being the much rarer Albert's lyrebird. It is one of the world's largest songbirds, and is renowned for its elaborate tail and courtship displays, and its excellent mimicry. The species is endemic to Australia and is found in forest in the southeast of the country. According to David Attenborough, the superb lyrebird displays one of the most sophisticated voice skills within the animal kingdom—"the most elaborate, the most complex, and the most beautiful".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden bowerbird</span> Species of bird

The golden bowerbird is a species of bird in the family Ptilonorhynchidae, the bowerbirds. It is endemic to Queensland in Australia, where it is limited to the Atherton region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spotted catbird</span> Species of bird

The spotted catbird is a species of bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchidae) which can be found in north Queensland, the eastern Moluccas and New Guinea. Although it is a member of the bowerbird family it does not build a bower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regent bowerbird</span> Species of bird

The regent bowerbird is a medium-sized, up to 25 cm 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 fawn markings, grey bill, black feet and crown. The name commemorates a prince regent of the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MacGregor's bowerbird</span> Species of bird

MacGregor's bowerbird is a medium-sized, up to 26 cm long, olive brown bowerbird of New Guinea's mountain forests, roughly the size and shape of an American Robin or a Eurasian Blackbird. The male is adorned with an erectile orange yellow crest, that is partly hidden until shown in courtship display. The unadorned female is similar to the male, but without the crest. Superb mimics, they are known for imitating other birds, pigs, rushing water, and even human speech.

<i>Ptiloris</i> Genus of birds

The genus Ptiloris consists of four allopatric species of birds in the family Paradisaeidae. These birds of paradise are commonly known as riflebirds, so named for the likeness of their black velvety plumage to the uniform of the Rifle Brigade. Alternatively, the bird's cry is similar to a rifle being fired and hitting its target but a call like this is not commonly reported. They are distributed in the rainforests of New Guinea and Eastern Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fawn-breasted bowerbird</span> Species of bird

The fawn-breasted bowerbird is a medium-sized, up to 32 cm (13 in) long, bowerbird with a greyish brown spotted white plumage, a black bill, dark brown iris, yellow mouth and an orange buff below. Both sexes are similar. The female is slightly smaller than the male.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spotted kestrel</span> Species of bird

The spotted kestrel is also known as the Moluccan kestrel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow-breasted bowerbird</span> Species of bird

The yellow-breasted bowerbird also known as Lauterbach's bowerbird, is a medium-sized, approximately 27 cm long, bowerbird with a brownish-olive upperparts plumage, grayish-yellow upper breast, coppery crown, dark brown iris, yellow underparts, a black bill and pinkish-orange mouth. Both sexes are similar. The female exhibits less vibrant coloration than the male.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western bowerbird</span> Species of Australian bird

The western bowerbird is a species of bird in the family Ptilonorhynchidae. The species is a common endemic of Australia. It has a disjunct distribution, occurring in Central Australia and the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Frith, Clifford; Frith, Dawn (2004-02-26). The Bowerbirds: Ptilonorhynchidae. OUP Oxford. ISBN   978-0-19-854844-7.
  2. 1 2 Madden, Joah R; Endler, John A; Jury, Francine (2004). "Morphological signals of sex and status in Spotted Bowerbirds". Emu. 104 (1): 21–30. doi:10.1071/mu03007. hdl: 10536/DRO/DU:30023065 . ISSN   1448-5540. S2CID   73576007.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds. Vol. 7a. P.J. Higgins, J.M. Peter, S.J. Cowling (eds.). Melbourne: Oxford University Press. 2006-04-01. ISBN   978-0-19-553996-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. ↑ MacGillivray, W. (1913-01-01). "Notes on some North Queensland birds". Emu. 13 (3): 132–186. doi:10.1071/mu913132 . Retrieved 2015-10-17.
  5. 1 2 Gilliard, Ernest Thomas (1969). Birds of Paradise and Bower Birds. American Museum of Natural History.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Frith, C. B.; Frith, D. W. (1990). "Nesting Biology of Spotted Bowerbird". Australian Bird Watcher. 13 (7): 218–225.
  7. ↑ North, Alfred J. (Alfred John) (1901). Nests and eggs of birds found breeding in Australia and Tasmania. Sydney : Australian Museum.
  8. ↑ Jackson, S.W. (1912-01-01). "Haunts of the Spotted Bowerbird (Chlamydodera maculata, Gld.)". Emu. 12 (2): 65–104. doi:10.1071/mu912065 . Retrieved 2015-10-17.
  9. ↑ Gould, John (1837). A Synopsis of the Birds of Australia and the Adjacent Islands. John Gould.
  10. ↑ Gould, John (1875). "On the Bower-birds of Australia, with the description of a new species". Annals & magazine of natural history. Vol. 16.
  11. ↑ Clements, James F.; Schulenberg, T.S.; Lliff, M.J.; Robertson, D; Fredericks, T.A.; Sullivan, B.L.; Wood, C.L. (2015), The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2015
  12. ↑ Birdlife International (2014), The BirdLife checklist of the birds of the world: Version 7, Birdlife International
  13. ↑ ITIS (2015). "International Taxonomic Information System Standard Report Page: Chlamydera maculata" . Retrieved 2015-10-14.
  14. ↑ Kusmierski, R; Borgia, G; Uy, A; Crozier, R H (1997-03-22). "Labile evolution of display traits in bowerbirds indicates reduced effects of phylogenetic constraint". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 264 (1380): 307–313. doi:10.1098/rspb.1997.0044. ISSN   0962-8452. PMC   1688255 . PMID   9107048.
  15. ↑ Christidis, Les; Boles, Walter E. (2008-01-25). Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds . Retrieved 2015-10-18.
  16. ↑ Gould, John (1862). "On a new species of Chlamydera, or bower-bird". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 11: 161–162.
  17. 1 2 Borgia, G; Mueller, U (1992-01-01). "Bower Destruction, Decoration Stealing and Female Choice in the Spotted Bowerbird Chlamydera maculata". Emu. 92 (1): 11–18. doi:10.1071/mu9920011 . Retrieved 2015-10-18.
  18. 1 2 Borgia, Gerald (1995-11-01). "Why Do Bowerbirds Build Bowers?". American Scientist. 83 (6): 542–547. Bibcode:1995AmSci..83..542B. ISSN   0003-0996. JSTOR   29775558.
  19. ↑ Uy, J. Albert C.; Borgia, Gerald (2000-01-01). "Sexual selection drives rapid divergence in bowerbird display traits". Evolution. 54 (1): 273–278. doi:10.1554/0014-3820(2000)054[0273:SSDRDI]2.0.CO;2. ISSN   0014-3820. PMID   10937203.
  20. ↑ Marshall, A. J. (1956-06-01). "Bower Birds". Scientific American. 194 (6): 48–52. Bibcode:1956SciAm.194f..48M. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0656-48. ISSN   0036-8733.
  21. 1 2 3 Madden, Joah R. (2003-02-18). "Bower decorations are good predictors of mating success in the spotted bowerbird". Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 53 (5): 269–277. doi:10.1007/s00265-003-0583-6. ISSN   0340-5443. S2CID   11132975.
  22. ↑ Borgia, Gerald (1995). "Complex male display and female choice in the spotted bowerbird: specialized functions for different bower decorations". Animal Behaviour. 49 (5): 1291–1301. doi:10.1006/anbe.1995.0161. S2CID   53185805.
  23. ↑ Birdlife International (2012), "Chlamydera maculata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species", IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2012-1.RLTS.T22703688A39241600.en
  24. ↑ Morris, A.K.; McGill, A.R.; Holmes, G. (1981). Handlist of birds in New South Wales. New South Wales Field Ornithologists Club.
  25. ↑ McAllan, Ian A. W.; Bruce, Murray D.; Group, Biocon Research; Atlassers, New South Wales Bird (1988). The birds of New South Wales: a working list. Biocon Research Group in association with the New South Wales Bird Atlassers.
  26. ↑ Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment (2007). Advisory List of Threatened Vertebrate Fauna in Victoria - 2007. East Mebourne, Victoria: Department of Sustainability and Environment. ISBN   978-1-74208-039-0.

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