Alternative names: Crested Bowerbird; Gardener Bowerbird; Mocha-breasted Bowerbird; Crested Gardenerbird; MacGregor's Gardenerbird; Huon Bowerbird (germana)
- Amblyornis macgregoriae
Identification
26cm.
- Dark brownish olive above
- Erectile and spreadable deep-orange crest, brown feathering overlying orange crest base and its lateral edges
- Variable umber below
- Dark brown eye
- Rather stout blackish bill
Females are similar but they lack the crest. Juveniles are undescribed.
Similar species
Streaked Bowerbird is very similar but has entire crest orange (no brown overlying).
Distribution
Endemic to the mountains and highlands of New Guinea.
Common and widespread in its range. Subspecies lecroyae only known from nine specimens.
Taxonomy
Seven subspecies accepted:
- A. m. mayri in west and central New Guinea (Weyland Mountains east to Hindenburg Mountains)
- A. m. kombok in east New Guinea (from Strickland Range east to Mount Hagen, Kubor Range, Bismarck Range and Kratke Range)
- A. m. lecroyae on Mount Bosavi in east-central New Guinea
- A. m. amati in Adelbert Mountains in northeast New Guinea
- A. m. germana in the mountains of the Huon Peninsula, northeast New Guinea
- A. m. macgregoriae in southeast New Guinea (west Kukukuku and Herzog Range east to western Owen Stanley Range)
- A. m. nubicola in eastern Owen Stanley Range, extreme southeast New Guinea
Some bowers of germana differ from bowers of other subspecies and it may represent a separate species (Huon Bowerbird).
Hybrids with Streaked Bowerbird reported.
Habitat
Found in mixed montane forest and southern beech rainforest. Occurs at 1000 - 3000m, mainly at 1600 - 2300m.
Behaviour
Diet
Feeds mostly on fruits, takes also some flowers and animals (mostly arthropods).
Forages usually in canopy.
Breeding
Breeding season from September to February. A polygynous species. The male builds and attends a bower to attract females. They build a nest alone and also breed alone.
The maypole-type bower consist of a conical tower of sticks (up to 3m tall) around a sapling or a tree-fern trunk, placed atop a thick circular, saucer-shaped mossy platform. It's decorated with fruits, charcoal, berries, fungi and many other items. Some bowers are used for decades. Decorations and sticks are sometimes stolen from other bowers.
When a female arrives the male performs a hide-and-seek on the bower mat, wing-flicking, crest-flashing and a semicirulcar dance of mincing steps with an errected crest around the female.
The female builds a sparse nest made of sticks and placed 2 - 3 m above the ground in a pandanus tree crown. Lays 1 egg.
Movements
A resident species. Females and immatures sometimes descend to lower elevations in winter.
References
- Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2009. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 14: Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553507
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) MacGregor's Bowerbird. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 25 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/MacGregor%27s_Bowerbird
