The regent bowerbird (''Sericulus chrysocephalus'') is a medium-sized, up to 25 cm long, sexually dimorphic

bowerbird Bowerbirds () make up the bird family Ptilonorhynchidae. They are renowned for their unique courtship behaviour, where males build a structure and decorate it with sticks and brightly coloured objects in an attempt to attract a mate. The family ...

. The male bird is black with a golden orange-yellow crown, mantle and black-tipped wing feathers. It has yellow

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Pl ...

, black feet and yellow iris. The female is a brown bird with whitish or fawn markings, grey bill, black feet and crown. The name commemorates a

prince regent A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness) or ab ...

of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Diet

The diet consists mainly of fruits, berries and insects.

Behaviour

All male bowerbirds build

bowers Bowers may refer to: Persons *Bowers (surname) Places ;Antarctica * Bowers Mountains * Bowers Piedmont Glacier ;United Kingdom * Bowers, Staffordshire, England * Bowers Gifford, Essex, England ;United States * Bowers, Delaware * Bowers, India ...

, which can be simple ground clearings or elaborate structures, to attract female mates. Regent bowerbirds in particular are known to mix a muddy greyish blue or pea green "saliva paint" in their mouths which they use to decorate their bowers. The male builds an avenue-type bower consisting of two walls of sticks, decorated with shells, seeds, leaves and berries. Regents will sometimes use wads of greenish leaves as "paintbrushes" to help spread the substance, representing one of the few known instances of tools used by birds. The female builds a saucer-shaped nest made of twigs measuring 30 cm high and 15–20 cm wide often away from the bower.

Habitat

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

, the regent bowerbird is distributed to rainforests and margins of

eastern Australia The eastern states of Australia are the states adjoining the east continental coastline of Australia. These are the mainland states of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, and the island state of Tasmania. The Australian Capital Territor ...

, from central

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. A rare natural

intergeneric hybrid In biology, a hybrid is the offspring resulting from combining the qualities of two organisms of different varieties, subspecies, species or genera through sexual reproduction. Generally, it means that each cell has genetic material from two dif ...

between the regent bowerbird and the

satin bowerbird The satin bowerbird (''Ptilonorhynchus violaceus'') is a species of passerine bird in the bowerbird family Ptilonorhynchidae that is endemic to eastern Australia. It is the only species placed in the genus ''Ptilonorhynchus''. Taxonomy The sati ...

is known as

Rawnsley's bowerbird Rawnsley's bowerbird, also known as Rawnsley's satin bird or the blue regent, is a rare intergeneric hybrid between a satin bowerbird (''Ptilonorhynchus violaceus'') and a regent bowerbird (''Sericulus chrysocephalus''). Type specimen It is bas ...

Conservation status

A common species throughout its range, the regent bowerbird is evaluated as "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

" on the

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological spe ...

Breeding

The male regent bowerbird builds a bower and will mate with several female bowerbirds. The male does not raise the young and the female builds the nest."Regent Bowerbird, Birds in Backyards"birds in backyards"
Retrieved on December 13, 2019

Gallery

Image:Regent Bowerbird female.jpg, Female Image:Regent Bowerbird head.jpg, Male Image:Regent Bowerbird OR.ogv, Male in Queensland Image: Regent_Bowerbird.jpg , Laminington Nat'l Park - Australia. File:Regent Bowerbird arranging bower items.jpg, Regent bowerbird arranging bower items

References

External links

* ttp://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/regent-bowerbird-sericulus-chrysocephalus Regent bowerbird videos, photos & soundson the Internet Bird Collection
Regent bowerbird pictures
{{Taxonbar, from=Q853470

regent bowerbird The regent bowerbird (''Sericulus chrysocephalus'') is a medium-sized, up to 25 cm long, sexually dimorphic bowerbird. The male bird is black with a golden orange-yellow crown, mantle and black-tipped wing feathers. It has yellow bill, black ...

Birds of Queensland Birds of New South Wales Endemic birds of Australia

Articles containing video clips