Display Behaviour of the Adult Male Golden Bowerbird Prionodura newtoniana at the Bower

Abstract

During observations made from 27 October-2 November 1998, an adult male Golden Bowerbird Prionodura newtoniana repeatedly responded to the presence of female-plumaged (presumed but unconfirmed female) conspecifics that alighted on his bower-perch, by hiding from them. This ritualised hiding element of what we believe to be courtship involves the male moving away from his bower and 'female' visitor to hide behind a tree-trunk and/or branches. While remaining hidden behind the tree-trunk and furtively peering from concealment, the male produces a soft subsong of high-quality vocal avian and other mimicry. When the visitor is settled on the bower-perch the male suddenly stops vocalising to drop downward and fly rapidly but indirectly at his bower. Flying close to the ground but within the foliage, he aggressively displaces the visitor from his bower-perch and bower-site with accompanying loud calls. This pattern of courtship behaviour involving hiding from the female-plumaged individual while producing vocal mimicry, followed by a sudden and aggressive approach, is also typical of the closely related gardener bowerbirds (Amblyomis species) of New Guinea and the Toothbilled Bowerbird Scenopoeetes dentirostris of the Australian Wet Tropics.