The American bowerbird (Neoptilonorhynchinae) is a subfamily of thrush (Turdidae), despite its name, that originally did not exist, but has since been created by SciiFii and introduced throughout the rainforests, wetlands, forests, and open woodlands across North America and South America to help boost biodiversity.
Example species[]
American blue bowerbird[]
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The American blue bowerbird (Neoptilonorhynchus pica) is a species of American bowerbird found throughout the southeastern United States, Caribbean Islands, Central America, and South America. Mature males have violet-blue eyes and are uniformly coloured black, however, light diffraction by the surface texture of the feathers results in an almost metallic sheen giving a deep shiny blue appearance. Immature males are coloured and marked the same as females and are often mistaken for them, with distinctively green/brown or otherwise entirely brown upper body and lighter under body with a distinct reticulated or scalloped pattern, but with very striking blue eyes.
Like all Neoptilonorhynchidae, American blue bowerbirds are predominantly frugivorous as adults, though they also eat leaves and a small amount of seeds and insects. As nestlings, however, they are largely fed on beetles, grasshoppers and cicadas until they can fly. American blue bowerbirds are not in the least finicky in their food preferences, and have taken extremely readily to the numerous introduced plants. Indeed, they are a major dispersal agent for a number of native and weedy plants. They are also sometimes persecuted by horticulturalists because they frequently raid fruit and vegetable crops. American blue bowerbirds are aggressive when foraging, frequently attempting to displace other birds from fruit trees.
Like all American bowerbirds and true bowerbirds, the American blue bowerbird shows highly complex courtship behaviour. Mate choice in American blue bowerbirds has been studied in detail. Males build specialised stick structures, called bowers, which they decorate with blue, yellow, and shiny objects, including berries, flowers, snail shells, and plastic items such as ballpoint pens, drinking straws and clothes pegs. As the males mature they use more blue objects than other colours. It is theorized that the preference for blue objects is due to the color accentuating the plumage of male American blue bowerbirds or that the color blue is more familiar and the designated color for this species. Females visit these and choose which male they will allow to mate with them. In addition to building their bowers, males carry out intense behavioural displays called dances to woo their mates, but these can be treated as threat displays by the females. Nestbuilding and incubation are carried out by the females alone. The female mate choice takes place in three stages:
- Visits to the bowers, before nests have been built, while the males are absent
- Visits to the bowers, before nests have been built, while the males are present and displaying
- Visits to a selection of the bowers, after nests have been built, leading to copulation with (typically) a single male.
The choices of young females (those in their first or second year of breeding) are mainly influenced by the appearance of the bowers, and hence by the first stage of this process. Older females, which are less affected by the threatening aspect of the males' displays, make their choices more on the basis of the males' dancing displays. It has been hypothesised that as males mature their colour discrimination develops and they are able to select more blue objects for the bower. Male American blue bowerbirds are known to destroy and steal from the bowers of one another. The quality of a male's own bower does not predict how often they will destroy others. However, males who exhibit more aggression by attacking others at feeding sites tend to destroy competitor bowers more frequently.
American blue bowerbirds nest between December and April. Typically two or three eggs but occasionally one, four, or five are laid in a shallow nest of twigs on top of which are placed leaves of a wide range of trees. These leaves turn brown as the eggs are laid, and may serve as camouflage. The eggs are cream but streaked with brown, and are much larger than typical for a bird of its size at around 19 grams (0.67 oz); they are laid every other day and hatch asynchronously after 21 days of incubation. The young are able to fly three weeks after hatching, but remain dependent on the female for another two months, finally dispersing at the beginning of summer (May or June).
Female American blue bowerbirds mature at two to three years but males do not reach maturity until seven or eight years when they have moulted completely into their characteristic blue-black adult plumage. The American blue bowerbird is one of the longest-lived wild passerine with anything approaching high-quality banding data: it is estimated that the average lifespan of the species is around nine or ten years, while the record longevity in the wild of twenty-seven years is the greatest for any banded passerine.
The conservation status of the American blue bowerbird is Least Concern due to successful conservation efforts, the American blue bowerbird's wide range and its tolerance to many of the human activities.
American great bowerbird[]
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The American great bowerbird (Psudeochlamydera turdus) is a species of American bowerbird found throughout the wetlands, forests, open woodlands, and forested shrublands of western and southwestern United States and Mexico. The American great bowerbird is the largest member of the American bowerbird family and is 33 to 38 centimeters long and fawny grey in colour. Males have a small but conspicuous red crest on the nape of the neck. The American great bowerbird is frugivorous when fully grown, although younger members of its species also feed on leaves and insects. As with most members of the American bowerbird subfamily, breeding considerations dominate the lifecycle: females nest inconspicuously and raise their young alone, while the males spend most of the year building, maintaining, improving, defending, and above all displaying from their bowers. Only a male with a successful bower can attract mates.
The bower made by an American great bowerbird is a twin-walled avenue-type bower approximately 1 metre long and 45 cm high. It is typically located under a shrub or leafy branch. The ends of the bower are scattered with white and green objects - stones, bones, shells and leaves and small man-made objects such as plastic and bottle caps. Within the bower itself, clear glass is sometimes placed. Uniquely among American bowerbirds, groups of young males will attend a single bower concurrently, "practising" their bower-building skills prior to establishing their own bower for mating purposes.
The males most often perform their display at the north platform of the north–south oriented bowers. During peak mating hours in the early morning, this orientation reflects the most light off of the male's bright lavender nuchal crest, showing off this impressive plumage. Usually the male will hold a colored object in his mouth while bobbing his head up and down during the display.
The conservation status of the American great bowerbird is Least Concern due to successful conservation efforts, the American great bowerbird's wide range and its tolerance to many of the human activities.
American sunset bowerbird[]
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The American sunset bowerbird (Allosericulus ruber) is a species of American bowerbird found throughout the rainforests, wetlands, forests, and open woodlands across southeastern and southern United States, Caribbean Islands, and Central America. The American sunset bowerbird is one of the most brilliantly coloured American bowerbirds. The male is a medium-sized bird, up to 25 cm long, with flame orange and golden yellow plumage, elongated neck plumes and yellow-tipped black tail. The American sunset bowerbird is frugivorous when fully grown, but also feeds on leaves and insects as a hatchling and a juvenile. It builds an "avenue-type" bower with two side walls of sticks. The female is an olive brown bird with yellow or golden around the stomach.
The male American sunset bowerbird also has a courtship display along with his bower, twisting his tails and his wings to the side, and then shaking his head quickly. The courtship behaviour of the American sunset bowerbird is peculiar among American bowerbirds, with behaviours, such as a male courting a juvenile male and several juvenile males as well as an adult male appearing to share one bower, only to be destroyed by another juvenile male.
The conservation status of the American sunset bowerbird is Least Concern due to successful conservation efforts, the American sunset bowerbird's wide range and its tolerance to many of the human activities.
American yellow-crowned bowerbird[]
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The American yellow-crowned bowerbird (Allomblyornis flavocephala) is a species of American bowerbird found throughout the rainforests, wetlands, forests, open woodlands, and forested shrublands across North America and South America. The American yellow-crowned bowerbird is a medium-sized bird, growing on average of up to 26 centimeters long, roughly the size and shape of an American Robin or a Eurasian Blackbird. Being olive-colored, 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, peccaries, rushing water, and even human speech.
The polygamous male builds a tower-like "maypole-type" bower, an elaborate courtship structure, with a central pole of twigs surrounded by a dish of moss with raised walls approximately 1 meter in diameter. He decorates the twigs of the maypole with flowers, fruits, insects and other objects. The diet consists mainly of fruits and insects.
When a female comes in proximity to the bower, the male struts and calls, and opens his crest to display its full color. Hiding the crest except during sexual display is thought to minimize his vulnerability to predators.
The conservation status of the American yellow-crowned bowerbird is Least Concern due to successful conservation efforts, the American yellow-crowned bowerbird's wide range and its tolerance to many of the human activities.