Flame bowerbird (Sericulus aureus)

All of the twenty species of the Bowerbirds are living in Australia and New Guinea. They form a family of the oscine birds. Bowerbirds show an unique mating ritual: The male birds create bowers in varying shapes, such as Maypoles, alleys or bowers. Those bowers, after they have been decorated with colorful and different items, are used to attract the female birds. Once the female bird chose its mate (by the quality of the bower and the variety of the decorations) the copulation takes place inside the bower. After copulation the female has to build the nest, breed the eggs and feed the offspring all by itself while the male bird prepares for the next mating season by creating a new bower. The shown preparation is a male flame bowerbird (Sericulus aureus). This species belongs to the bowerbirds building alleys. It can be seen in the exhibition “Laubenvögel – Ein Leben auf der Bühne” from the 9th of July 2017 to the 18th of February 2018 in the Landesmuseum Natur und Mensch.