The Bowerbirds: Family Ptilonorhynchidae

Bachelor Party!

Bowerbirds, along with the Birds of Paradise, most likely descended from a common Corvid ancestor. Like the Birds of Paradise, the Bowerbirds are medium sized birds with thick bills. Most are frugivorous, eating mostly fruit and supplementing their diet with insects, nectar and seeds. Both Bowerbirds and Birds of Paradise exhibit extreme sexual selection and have evolved some very interesting mating rituals. In fact, no family of birds epitomizes the bachelor lifestyle better than the Bowerbirds. With the exception of the Catbirds, all male members of this family are polygynous and build elaborate 'bachelor-pads' called Bowers. Catbirds are not sexually dimorphic (males and females look the same) and are monogamous.

Intelligent Interior Design?

Bowers are structures that males within this family build to impress females. They are normally built on the ground and are made of sticks and twigs in a variety of designs that differ among species. It is not enough to just have a well built bachelor pad, no. After building the bower, the male will then become an interior designer, á la Thom Filicia in Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. He will use anything he can find to decorate his bower. Some examples of the motifs used are: Paint made from ground-up leaves, brightly colored shells, berries, and even human trash (How chic!). A well built and well decorated bower tells a potential mate that the architect is genetically superior and therefore worthy of mating with. Lessons from nature come in all shapes and sizes...

Scientists have found that the Bowerbird's ability to construct such elaborate bowers directly corresponds to an increased brain size. There are a variety of species within this family and brain size differs among them. As the brain size increases, particularly the cerebellum region, so does the complexity of the bower. In other words, women drive the evolution of smarter men. Is there anything they can't do?

There are 8 genera within this family and 18 species: Genera include:

Genus Ailuroedus (Catbirds)
Genus Scenopooetes (Tooth-Billed Catbirds)
Genus Archboldia (2 Bowerbird Species)
Genus Amblyornis (4 Bowerbird Species)
Genus Prionodura (Golden Bowerbird)
Genus Sericulus (3 Bowerbird Species)
Genus Ptilonorhynchus (Satin Bowerbird)
Genus Chlamydera (5 Bowerbird Species)