BIRDGACHA / FIELD NOTES

Bowerbirds

Bowerbirds include colourful display-building species and more subdued catbirds. Strong bills and sturdy bodies accompany plumage ranging from green to glossy black, chestnut or brilliant yellow. Examples include Ochre-breasted Catbird (Ailuroedus stonii), Tooth-billed Bowerbird (Scenopoeetes dentirostris), and Archbold's Bowerbird (Archboldia papuensis). Fruit is important, alongside other plant and animal foods. Many males arrange display structures or decorated courts, but not every member builds a bower. A bower is a courtship site rather than a nest, an essential distinction when interpreting photographs of decorated avenues or cleared display areas beneath the forest canopy.

How to recognize Bowerbirds

Bill: strong fruit-handling bills.
Outline: sturdy bodies with highly variable plumage.
Feeding: taking forest foods with diverse courtship behaviour.

Where they live

Australia and New Guinea support the family across rainforest, mountain forest, woodland and some drier scrub habitats. Different species occupy distinct elevational zones, and seasonal food supplies can influence activity. Display sites require suitable substrates and vegetation, while actual nests are built separately. Catbirds and other members with different courtship systems broaden the habitat account, preventing the family's ecology from being reduced to the location of one spectacular decorated bower.

Species accounts: Ochre-breasted Catbird · Tooth-billed Bowerbird · Archbold's Bowerbird

Sources — natural history: Wikipedia: Bowerbirds natural history · Cornell Birds of the World: Ochre-breasted Catbird species account · Don Roberson: Bowerbirds field observations and natural history.

Classification: IOC World Bird List: family names and classification.

Some Cornell Birds of the World account sections require a subscription.

Updated 2026-11-06. Species counts follow this site's catalogue. This is an editorial summary, not an expert peer review.