Brown-bellied bowerbird
| Brown-bellied bowerbird | ||||||||||||
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Brown-bellied bowerbird |
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| Chlamydera cerviniventris | ||||||||||||
| Gould , 1850 |
The brown-bellied bower bird ( Chlamydera cerviniventris ) is a species of bird from the family of bower birds (Ptilonorhynchidae) and is a representative of the avifauna of New Guinea and Australia . Aside from the black-eared bowerbird , the brown-bellied bowerbird is the only bowerbird found on both the Australian continent and New Guinea. Compared to the three-gang bowerbird , which only occurs in New Guinea , this species has been relatively well researched due to its distribution in Australia.
With a body length of up to 29 centimeters, the brown-bellied bowerbird is one of the larger representatives of the bowerbird family and is one of the species of this family whose courtship behavior includes the construction of an arbor by the male. Unlike many bowerbirds, there is no sexual dimorphism . No subspecies are distinguished for this species.
Brown-bellied bowerbirds are very long-lived and take several years to reach sexual maturity. Due to the intelligence they show when building their arbors, they are counted among the most intelligent of the birds. The population of the brown-bellied bowerbird is classified by the IUCN as safe ( least concern ).
features
Body measurements
Brown-bellied bowerbirds reach a body length of up to 29 centimeters, of which 10.4 to 11.9 centimeters are accounted for by the tail. The beak length is 2.8 to 3.5 centimeters. The males reach a weight between 145 and 182 grams, females remain somewhat lighter with 117 to 170 grams.
Appearance
The top of the body including the wings is brownish olive. The parting looks a little paler and more dashed due to the dirty-white to isabel-colored feather shafts. The sides of the face, forehead and reins as well as the neck are dashed whitish. The plumage on the upper side of the body has bright feather tips, so that the back plumage appears dotted. The hand and arm wings are lined with pale brown and have brownish spring shafts. The control feathers have similar feather edges and pale brown feather tips on the outer flags. The chin and throat as well as the chest have a gray-white basic color, the individual feathers are lined with broad gray-brown, so that these feathers appear strongly dashed. The rest of the underside of the body is a pale cinnamon brown.
The iris is dark brown, the beak is black. The legs are gray-brown.
Possible confusion
In parts of the habitat of the brown-bellied bowerbird in New Guinea, the three-gaited bowerbird also occurs, which cannot always be clearly differentiated when observing the field. The three-gang bower bird is more yellow on the underside of the body and the males have a copper-red crown. In the literature there are various speculations as to the extent to which hybrids occur between the two species or whether the females visit the arbors of the other species at all.
In Australia there are repeated reports that the brown-bellied bowerbird occurs more south than the McIlwraith Range . It is confused with the gray bower bird . The brown-bellied bower bird is slimmer than the gray bower bird and the males lack the purple feather bonnet.
voice
The calls of the brown-bellied bowerbird are a wide range of rattling and hissing sounds. It also mimics the sounds of its surroundings such as fast flowing water, the neighing of horses and the hoof noises of shod horses. The imitation of human language has already been proven for the brown-bellied bowerbird. It was described that a brown-bellied bower bird mimicked Hello, Good morning ....
Brown-bellied bowerbirds also imitate the calls of other bird species. On the Cape York Peninsula , a secluded peninsula in the tropical northern Australian state of Queensland , imitate Brown abdominal Bowerbirds especially the noisy friarbird and also the Balzlaute of silk leaves bird and the voice of Reinwardt chicken and Sulfur-crested cockatoo . to. In the case of a female who tried to seduce a predator from her nestling, first imitated the calls of various nest robbers such as the mangrove heron , the hooded heron , the black-backed crow's shrike ( Cracticus mentales ) and later let the calls of the garden fan tail be heard.
distribution and habitat
The brown-bellied bowerbird occurs in New Guinea and along the east coast of the Cape York Peninsula.
Extending across New Guinea, the occurrence of the brown-bellied bowerbird is essentially limited to coastal areas in eastern New Guinea. In the north of the island Jayapura and in the south of the island the Yos Sudarso island represent the western limit of distribution of the species. There is also an isolated population on the Vogelkop and individual birds have been observed in the interior of the Huon Peninsula . The altitude distribution ranges from the lowlands to altitudes of 500 meters. The brown-bellied bowerbird was observed only very individually, even at altitudes of 1500 meters.
In Australia, the distribution extends in a narrow strip along the coast from the northern tip of the Cape York Peninsula to the area of the McIlwraith Range , a few kilometers east of Coen . The altitude distribution in Australia ranges from the lowlands to altitudes of 100 meters.
The habitat of the brown-bellied bowerbird are patches of forest and areas loosely composed of eucalyptus and myrtle heather as well as scrubland in outgoing savannas and grasslands. It also occurs at the edges of forests and in the edge area of mangrove forests . In the region around Port Moresby , the capital of Papua New Guinea , it is also found in parks, gardens and on teak plantations.
Way of life
The brown-bellied bowerbird lives solitary, in pairs and in loose, small groups of up to ten individuals. It can be observed in troops especially in the winter months. He eats fruits and insects. The food crops include various types of tetrastigma , but also cultivated chilli peppers with a high capsaicin content.
Brown-bellied bowerbirds come to watering holes, particularly during dry periods, to bathe and drink.
Reproduction
The males of the brown-bellied bowerbird are polygynous , which means that they mate with several females. Their reproductive success is influenced by how successfully they build their arbors. The females build the nest on their own, hatch the clutch on their own and take care of raising the nestlings.
Shape of arbors
The brown-bellied bowerbird is one of the so-called avenue farmers among the bowerbirds: the arbor he built consists of an extensive platform made of slim, unbranched branches that lie on the ground. The brown-bellied bowerbird erects two parallel walls of twigs on this platform. This creates an avenue or alley in the middle. The alley of the arbor basically has an east-west orientation. The arbors are rebuilt every year.
Although the populations in New Guinea and Australia are not assigned to different subspecies, there is a slight difference in the construction of the arbors. The arbors of the Australian population have a lower, but more carefully built platform. The corridor between the two walls is a bit narrower, the south side of the street is a bit longer. Decorative objects are placed by the Australian males on the western side of the end of the aisle.
Arbors can be very large. An arbor was found near Port Moresby , which was 168 centimeters long, 81 centimeters wide and including a platform height of 41 centimeters 61 centimeters high.
Arbor locations and competition for arbors
A fully grown male can be observed near his arbor for about eight months a year. In experiments in which a male occupying an arbor was removed, the arbor space was immediately occupied by other males. The male occupying a new arbor space immediately destroyed the existing arbor and built it again. Usually the arbor was smaller. According to Clifford and Dawn Frith, the rapidity with which abandoned hooded spots are acquired indicates that there are more males than suitable spots for building an arbor.
Arbors are usually built in shady places under low bushes. They are typically found in individual bushy spots in open savannahs or grasslands or along the edges of forests.
Nest, clutch and rearing of the young birds
Nests with eggs were found in New Guinea in every calendar month. In Australia, the breeding season is concentrated from September to December with a peak in November.
The nests are built by the females in trees, bushes or mangroves, well hidden by the foliage. They are located between 20 and 200 meters from an arbor. There is evidence that the nesting sites are used repeatedly. The clutch consists only of a single egg, which had an average fresh full weight of 17.5 grams. The nestling period is at least 23 days. The female feeds the young bird mainly insects such as caterpillars, but also fruits. If the nestling is threatened by a possible nest robber, the female tries to mislead the potential attacker by coming down to the ground and simulating the impression of a seriously injured bird by flapping wings and hopping.
Brown-bellied bowerbirds and humans
First description and origin of the type specimen
Although the brown-bellied bowerbird is more widespread in New Guinea and occurs more numerous there, the type specimen , on the basis of which John Gould scientifically described the species for the first time in 1850 , comes from the Cape York Peninsula. The expedition of the Bark Tam O 'Shanter together with the HMS Rattlesnake was supposed to scout the north of Australia in 1848 and 1849 to find a cheap inland route from the Gulf of Carpentaria to Sydney. During this expedition, the scientist John MacGillivray shot a male near his arbor. He also removed the arbor that was sent to London. MacGillivray already stated that 17 days after removing the arbor at this location there was a new one.
Scientific name
John Gould named the bird Chlamydera cerviniventris in 1850 . The name is derived from the Latin word cervinus - deer and refers to the light cinnamon brown color of the underside of the body. The word part ventris , however, means belly.
Imprisonment
Several species of bowerbirds are shown in zoos. Even though most of them show their arbor house and also courtship in captivity, only a few species have so far been successfully bred in captivity. The brown-bellied bowerbird is such an exception. In 2008 it raised offspring at Cologne Zoo.
A single male was kept at the Baiyer River Sanctuary Conservation Reserve , Western Highlands Province , Papua New Guinea, regularly building arbors and imitating the whistles and speech of people.
literature
- Bruce M. Beehler, Thane K. Pratt: Birds of New Guinea; Distribution, Taxonomy, and Systematics . Princeton University Press, Princeton 2016, ISBN 978-0-691-16424-3 .
- Clifford B. Frith, Dawn. W. Frith: The Bowerbirds - Ptilonorhynchidae . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-854844-3 .
- Peter Rowland: Bowerbirds . Csiro Publishing, Collingwood 2008, ISBN 978-0-643-09420-8 .
Single receipts
- ↑ a b c Handbook of the Birds of the World zum Braunbauch-Laubenvogel , accessed on April 8, 2017
- ↑ Rowland: Bowerbirds . P. 101.
- ↑ a b c d Frith: The Bowerbirds - Ptilonorhynchidae . P. 399.
- ↑ a b c d Frith: The Bowerbirds - Ptilonorhynchidae . P. 396.
- ↑ a b c d Frith: The Bowerbirds - Ptilonorhynchidae . P. 397.
- ↑ a b Rowland: Bowerbirds . P. 98.
- ↑ a b Beehler & Pratt: Birds of New Guinea . P. 282.
- ↑ a b c Frith: The Bowerbirds - Ptilonorhynchidae . P. 398.
- ↑ Rowlalnd: Bowerbirds . P. 100.
- ↑ a b c Frith: The Bowerbirds - Ptilonorhynchidae . P. 402.
- ↑ a b Rowland: Bowerbirds . P. 99.
- ↑ a b Frith: The Bowerbirds - Ptilonorhynchidae . P. 403.
- ↑ W. Grummt, H. Strehlow (Ed.): Zoo animal keeping birds . Verlag Harri Deutsch, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-8171-1636-2 . P. 750.
