---
title: "What the sources say about the Vogelkop Bowerbird | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "38 claims from the Vogelkop Bowerbird profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/vogelkop-bowerbird-1.webp"
canonical: "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/vogelkop-bowerbird/sources/"
---

# What the sources say about the Vogelkop Bowerbird (*Amblyornis inornata*)

> 38 claims from the Vogelkop Bowerbird profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Vogelkop Bowerbird](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/vogelkop-bowerbird/)

## Bowerbird. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/bowerbird

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Mainly fruit, occasionally insects, spiders and seeds | All bowerbirds are frugivores, living mainly on the fruits of trees and bushes; occasionally, they eat insects, spiders, and seeds. (note: San Diego Zoo's page is family-wide (Ptilonorhynchidae); used only for this generic, family-level diet statement, never for this species' own mass, length or lifespan.) |
| tags: frugivore | All bowerbirds are frugivores (note: task #601; replaces insectivore. San Diego Zoo's page is family-wide but the sentence is explicitly about all bowerbirds, this one included: "All bowerbirds are frugivores, living mainly on the fruits of trees and bushes; occasionally, they eat insects, spiders, and seeds." Insectivore is "hunting insects, spiders, and grubs", which that sentence puts at "occasionally".) |

## Diamond (1986). Animal art: Variation in bower decorating style among male bowerbirds Amblyornis inornatus. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.83.9.3042

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| the most elaborately decorated structure erected by an animal other than humans | the most elaborately decorated structures erected by an animal other than humans |
| in a style that changes from range to range | vary geographically and individually |
| Builds a different bower style depending on population, which may be a partly learned tradition passed down like a human art style | Bower style may be partly learned. Hence, geographically varying bower styles may be a culturally transmitted trait, like human art styles. |
| males in the south Kumawa Mountains build tall stick towers glued together, standing on a circular mat of dead moss painted black and decorated with dull objects like snail shells, acorns and stones | Bowers in the south Kumawa Mountains are tall towers of sticks glued together, resting on a circular mat of dead moss painted black, and decorated with dull objects such as snail shells, acorns, and stones. (note: Shared verbatim between the body's second section and FAQ 1 (which drops the 'A study of the species found that' lead-in).) |
| males in the Wandamen Mountains build low, woven towers roofed by a stick hut with an entrance, standing on a green moss mat and decorated with colorful fruit, flowers and butterfly wings | Bowers in the Wandamen Mountains are low woven towers covered by a stick hut with an entrance, resting on a green moss mat and decorated with colorful objects such as fruits, flowers, and butterfly wings. (note: Shared verbatim between the body's second section and FAQ 1.) |
| Young males build simpler versions | Young males build simpler bowers, and adult males differ among themselves. (note: Shared verbatim between the body's second section and FAQ 1.) |
| adult males still differ from one another | and adult males differ among themselves (note: Shared verbatim between the body's second section and FAQ 1.) |
| Bower style may be partly learned, the researcher who described it suggested, which would make these geographically varying styles a culturally transmitted trait, like human art styles. | Bower style may be partly learned. Hence, geographically varying bower styles may be a culturally transmitted trait, like human art styles. |
| Bowers like these are, in the words of the study that compared them across two mountain ranges, "the most elaborately decorated structures erected by an animal other than humans." | the most elaborately decorated structures erected by an animal other than humans |
| No, and the difference is dramatic. | vary geographically and individually (note: Framing sentence for FAQ 1's bower-style contrast.) |
| Researchers tested this by leaving out poker chips in seven different colors as decorations. | Experiments with poker chips of seven colors offered as decorations |
| Individual birds preferred some colors over others, different populations preferred different colors, birds placed certain chips in specific parts of the bower, and they stole chips out of neighboring bowers. | individual birds prefer some colors over others, individuals and populations differ in these preferences, certain objects are placed in specific parts of the bower, and birds steal chips from neighbors |

## Uy & Borgia (2000). SEXUAL SELECTION DRIVES RAPID DIVERGENCE IN BOWERBIRD DISPLAY TRAITS. Evolution.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0014-3820.2000.tb00027.x

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A later study of two populations found that they barely differ genetically, yet females in the one with the more elaborate display prefer its divergent decorations and bower. | provide direct evidence of female preferences for divergent decoration and bower traits in the population with more elaborate display, and show that there is minimal genetic differentiation between these populations |

## Ericson et al. (2020). Parallel Evolution of Bower-Building Behavior in Two Groups of Bowerbirds Suggested by Phylogenomics. Systematic Biology.

https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syaa040

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Some biologists who study the bowerbird family think the bower has effectively taken over the job feathers do in showier relatives, moving a male's display off his own body and onto a structure that does not make him easier for a predator to spot | Some evolutionary benefits of this transfer would be to decouple the ornamentations from the constraints of the bird’s physiology and to reduce male conspicuousness to predators (Diamond 1986) (note: Ericson et al. 2020 attributes this hypothesis to Diamond 1986; presented as a proposed idea, hedged with 'some', not settled fact. Shared verbatim between the body's first section and FAQ 3.) |
| a courtship structure that males of his family use, along with their displays, to attract females | The males use these courtship bowers, along with their displays, to attract females. (note: Ericson et al. is family-level, so the page says "males of his family".) |
| In this family the female alone builds the nest and rears the young | the female alone performs nest building and rearing of the young (note: Family-level in the source, and scoped that way on the page.) |

## Frith & Frith (2004). Morphology, demography, bower sites, structures, and their significance. Bird Families of the World.

https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198548447.003.0004

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| generally brown, while several of the species' close relatives wear elongate, erectile crests of brilliant orange or yellow | Both sexes of the Tooth-billed and Vogelkop Bowerbirds are generally brown, whereas adult males of the remaining three, and otherwise brown, gardeners and the all black Archbold's wear elongate erectile crests of brilliant orange or yellow. (note: Shared verbatim between the body's first section and FAQ 3.) |
| A generally brown bird | Both sexes of the Tooth-billed and Vogelkop Bowerbirds are generally brown |
| generally brown while its close relatives wear erectile crests of brilliant orange or yellow | Both sexes of the Tooth-billed and Vogelkop Bowerbirds are generally brown, whereas adult males of the remaining three, and otherwise brown, gardeners and the all black Archbold's wear elongate erectile crests of brilliant orange or yellow. (note: vibe.reason, task #601; the band, song, genre and music description are unchanged.) |

## Noske, Wonggor & Prativi (2025). Breeding season, nest, egg and nestling of the Vogelkop Bowerbird Amblyornis inornatus in the Arfak Mountains, West Papua. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club.

https://doi.org/10.25226/bboc.v145i4.2025.a5

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Montane forest of New Guinea's Bird's Head and Neck, in Indonesia's West Papua province | Endemic to the Bird′s Head and Neck of New Guinea in the Indonesian province of West Papua |
| including the Arfak Mountains | in the Arfak Mts. on the east side of the Vogelkop Peninsula |
| He builds a bower instead | all of which occur in montane forest in New Guinea, build maypole bowers (note: Noske et al. at genus scope: all Amblyornis species, this one included, build maypole bowers.) |
| Only two nests had been described | Only two nests of Vogelkop Bowerbird have been described to date, both found in the Arfak Mts. on the east side of the Vogelkop Peninsula. (note: Shared verbatim between the body's third section and FAQ 4. 'Before' narrates the same sequence the source itself uses ('described to date', then results '[b]etween 2008 and 2014').) |
| at elevations between roughly 1,500 and 2,000 meters | at elevations between c.1,500 m and c.2,000 m |
| researchers found nine more between 2008 and 2014 | Between 2008 and 2014, we found nine nests in the Arfak Mts. |
| Every one held a single egg or a single nestling | All nests contained either one egg (n = 5) or a single nestling (n = 4) when discovered (note: The nine nests found in 2008-2014; shared between the body's third section and FAQ 4.) |
| The birds may breed twice a year, with egg-laying peaking in May to June and again from October to January | a biannual breeding season, with peaks in May–June and October–January (note: Shared verbatim between the body's third section and FAQ 4.) |
| One nestling was about 7.5 centimeters long from bill tip to tail, with long greyish-brown down over its head and back | was c.7.5 cm long from bill tip to ‘tail′, and had a covering of long greyish-brown down over the head and dorsal surface |
| Surprisingly little. | despite its bowers attracting much attention, the species′ breeding biology is poorly known (note: Framing sentence for FAQ 4.) |
| Despite the attention paid to bowers, almost nobody had found a Vogelkop bowerbird nest. | despite its bowers attracting much attention, the species′ breeding biology is poorly known (note: Framing sentence opening the body's third section.) |
| one egg, pure white, measured 41.4 by 29.2 millimeters | a single pure white egg that measured 41.4 × 29.2 mm (note: Nest 2, June 2014; shared between the body's third section and FAQ 4.) |
| what biologists call | Widely regarded as the most complex and elaborately decorated structure built by an animal other than Homo sapiens |
| Nine Nests in the Arfak Mountains | Between 2008 and 2014, we found nine nests in the Arfak Mts. |
| tags: forest | all of which occur in montane forest in New Guinea (note: task #601; replaces rainforest, which no cached source states for this species. Noske et al. at genus scope. utils/biome.ts already derives 'forest' from the corrected habitat line, so tag and text now agree. The mountains tag is kept: the same paper has the species at 1,050-1,450 m in the Kumawa Mts. and 1,200-2,000 m in the Arfaks.) |
| puts its decoration into a structure it builds instead | all of which occur in montane forest in New Guinea, build maypole bowers (note: vibe.reason, task #601; Noske et al. at genus scope, as elsewhere on the page.) |

## Amblyornis inornata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T22703644A130219341.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2018-2.rlts.t22703644a130219341.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Least Concern | IUCN Red List category: Least Concern (LC). |