Great Bowerbirds (Chlamydera nuchalis)

The Great Bowerbird, Chlamydera nuchalis, is a common and conspicuous resident of northern Australia, from the area around Broome across the Top End to Cape York Peninsula and as far south as Mount Isa.

This Bowerbird’s favored habitat is a broad range of forest and woodland, and the margins of vine forests, monsoon forest, and mangrove swamps.

Great Bowerbirds

As with most members of the bowerbird family, breeding considerations dominate the lifecycle: females nest inconspicuously and raise their young alone, while the males spend most of the year building, maintaining, improving, defending, and above all displaying from their bowers.

Only a male with a successful bower can attract mates.

The Great Bowerbird is 33 to 38 cm long and fawny grey in color. Males have a small but conspicuous pink crest on the nape of the neck.

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