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Visitors exploring Kings Canyon should keep their eyes out for the bower of the Western Bowerbird (Chlamydera guttata). One of the many birds that inhabit the gorges and rocky hills in this semi-arid region, the bower of the male bird of the species are usually created underneath large shrubs and trees such as the native figs.
Made from stems of dried grass and twigs, the bower is usually filled with anything white and green, even human plastic discarded waste.
The Western Bowerbird itself has a beautiful scalloped plumage, the top side ranging from dark brown to almost black with irregular colour pattern of spots ranging from a light fawn through to orange brown. Its underside and front plumage is a buff / light fawn colour.
The Western Bowerbird has a characteristic erectile iridescent lilac/pink nape crest (nuchal crest), which is smaller in the female and less of a marked lilac/pink crest. When performing in front of female birds, the male lilac/pink crest becomes erect and fans out sideways, with the colour of the fringe visible behind its eyes, when viewed from the front. The immature bird lacks the crest.
See our Fauna Index for more information and images on the Western Bowerbird and our blog on Treasures of our Western Bowerbird.
- Scientific Classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Aves
- Order: Passeriformes
- Family: Ptilonorhynchidae
- Genus: Chlamydera
- Species: C. guttata
- Binomial name: Chlamydera guttata