Avise's Birds of the World

Great Bowerbird
Chlamydera nuchalis

Native Range: ustralian Region

Notes: a large all-grey-brown bowerbird; this species provides a great example of how sexual selection operating via female choice can yield during evolution an external phenotype (the bower contructed by a male) without actually modifying the male's body phenotype per se; the male's bower, which he builds and maintains to attract females, is a two-walled avenue of grasses about two feet high and three feet in length; the male also decorates his bower with trinkets such as bottlecaps, and he shows a strong preference for pieces of clear glass.