Sherri Smith, Age 11, Of Sheridan, Wyo., for her question:
Is it true that the bowerbird carries on an odd courtship?
The bowerbirds are the unchallenged decorators and master builders of the feathery kingdom. They are gifted dancers, and as singers they are clever mimics. And it is true that all the talents and toil of the male birds are lavished upon courting th female birds.
Courtship in the bird world is nothing new, and lots of male birds dance and display their plumage to attract a female. After courtship, many of them become devoted husbands and fathers. They help to build the nests and tend the children. But Mr. Bowerbird spends all his time and talents courting, trying to catch the eye and steal the heart of a lady loverbird.
A whole book with a thousand pictures could not tell the whole story of these talented bowerbirds. They create stages and mossy lawns for their courtship dances and elaborate bowers of twigs and foliage to entice the females. Stages and bowers are decked with tasteful displays of blossoms and berries, shells and seeds, feathers and other colorful ornaments.
The maypole bowerbird erects a tall teepee of twigs around the slim trunk of a young tree. The golden bowerbird builds a nine foot tower and lines the rooms with flowers and fluffy lichens. The avenue builders use leaves or wads of bark to daub their walls with blue or green mud. A few other animals use work tools, but only the bowerbirds use paint brushes.
The male bird spends months creating his flowery cover and maintaining it. Every day he tidies his lawn, arranges his decor and changes the flowers. Then he sits in a tree and mimics the songs of his neighbors. One day the lady bowerbird pays him a visit.
He bows before her and prances and dances around his stage. If she approves of his performance, she goes with him into his cover and soon departs.
Mr. Bowerbird is left to tidy the disarray in his elaborate decor. And Mrs. Bowerbird she does off alone to build a nest in a tree, lay her eggs and bring up the children.
There are 19 species of bowerbirds native to Australia and New Guinea. In size and shape they resemb1e our sassy Bluejays. Some wear crested crowns and others have vivid patches of red or gold, shimmering blue or pearly gray, but the most talented artists wear more modest plumage. A few bowerbirds have no artistic gifts and lead quiet lives among the trees.
Many bowerbirds live in remote jungles and only a few naturalists have had a chance to study them. A bird expert once claimed that, just as the natural talents of mankind set us apart from all the animals, so should the natural talents of the bowerbirds set them apart from all other birds. These artists and architects, painters and performers are perhaps the most gifted of all the creatures in the animal kingdom.