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Prionodura Newtoniana at the Bower

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Prionodura Newtoniana at the Bower VOL 19 (1) MARCH2001 3 AUSTRALIAN BIRD WATCHER 2001, 19, 3- 13 Display Behaviour of the Adult Male Golden Bowerbird Prionodura newtoniana at the Bower by CLIFFORD B. FRITH and DAWN W. FRITH 'Prionodura', P.O. Box 581, Malanda, Queensland 4885 Summary During observations made from 27 October-2 November 1998, an adult male Golden Bowerbird Prionodura newtoniana repeatedly responded to the presence of female-plumaged (presumed but unconfirmed female) conspecifics that alighted on his bower-perch, by hiding from them. This ritualised Hiding element of what we believe to be courtship involves the male moving away from his bower and 'female' visitor to hide behind a tree-trunk and/or branches. While remaining hidden behind the tree-trunk and furtively peering from concealment, the male produces a soft subsong of high-quality vocal avian and other mimicry. When the visitor is settled on the bower-perch the male suddenly stops vocalising to drop downward and fly rapidly but indirectly at his bower. Flying close to the ground but within the foliage, he aggressively Displaces the visitor from his bower-perch and bower-site with accompanying loud calls. This pattern of courtship behaviour involving hiding from the female-plumaged individual while producing vocal mimicry, followed by a sudden and a~gressive approach, is also typical of the closely related gardener bowerbirds (Amblyomis spec1es) of New Guinea and the Thoth­ billed Bowerbird Scenopoeetes dentirostris of the Australian Wet 'Ifopics. Introduction The Golden Bowerbird Prionodura newtoniana is a sexually dimorphic, polygynous, Australian endemic passerine constituting a monotypic genus. It is one of 16 bowerbirds (Ptilonorhynchidae) that breed polygynously, with promiscuous males maintaining and vocally advertising a bower structure and site, defending it from rivals, and attempting to mate with several females each season (Frith 1989, Donaghey 1996, Lenz 1999, Frith & Frith 2000b). The species is confined to rainforest above 680 m above sea level (asl) from Mt Amos, just south of Cooktown, southward to the Paluma Range, north Queensland (Nix & Switzer 1991, Schodde & Mason 1999). It is the smallest bowerbird species, with adults averaging 25 em in total length and weighing 75 g. Adult male plumage is rich golden-yellow (Plate 1, front cover); immature males and females are similarly uniform grey-olive throughout (Plate 2). For a history and summary of biological knowledge of the species see Gilliard (1969), Frith (1989), Donaghey (1996) and Frith & Frith (1998, 2000a,b,c,d). Bowers of adult males are dispersed throughout suitable habitat (pace Gilliard 1969, Werren 1993) at an average of 4.2 per ha (n = 12; Frith & Frith 2000a). The large stick bower is of the 'maypole' type, as are those of the four New Guinea endemic Amblyomis gardener bowerbirds. These are structurally unlike the cleared 'court' of the Tooth-billed Bowerbird Scenopoeetes dentirostris, the accumulated fern-frond 'mat' of Archbold's Bowerbird Archboldia papuensis, and stick or grass 'avenue' bowers of the Regent Bowerbird Sericulus chrysocephalus and its two congeners in New Guinea, the Satin Bowerbird Ptilonorhynchus violaceus, and the five grey or spotted Chlamydera bowerbirds (Gilliard 1969, Frith 1989). Bowers of the Golden Bowerbird persist at their sites for many years, if not decades (Frith & Frith 2000a ), and we observed a population of individually marked bower-owning males at their traditional sites (Frith & Frith 2000b,d). AUSTRALIAN 4 FRITH & FRITH BIRD WATCHER A female-plumaged Gi>lden Bowerbird (sex unknown) visiting the bower of an adult male. Plate 2 Photo: C. & D. Frith Adult male Gi>lden Bowerbird in Hiding display while peering at-a female on his bower to the left of and beyond the tree upon which he is perched. Plate 3 Photo: C. & D. Frith VOL. 19 (1) MARCH2001 Display of Golden Bowerbird 5 Adult male Golden Bowerbird peering at a female that is perched on his bower, 20 metres to his left, while producing a soft subsong of vocal mimicry in normal (above) and in a characteristic 'serpentine' posture (below) of the Hiding display (see text). Plate 4 Photo: C. & D. Frith AUSTRALIAN 6 FRI1H & FRI1H BIRD WATCHER Results of long-term studies of bower-site numbers, their constancy, and ages of bowers/bower-sites over 20 seasons are detailed elsewhere (Frith & Frith 2000a). Females build the nest, incubate, and rear offspring unaided as in other polygynous bowerbird species. One or two white eggs are laid in a deep, bulky, open cup nest typically built within 3 m of the ground in a 'roofed' vertical tree crevice or other crevice-like site (Frith & Frith 1998). The annual attendance of bowers by male Golden Bowerbirds and their display season starts late in August or early in September. Bower-owners then give loud, prolonged, rattle-like advertisement songs above bowers, add fresh sticks, and place decorations upon their bower (Frith 1989; Frith & Frith 2000a,b ). Other calls at the bower include squeals, screeches, croaks, rasps and churrings (Frith 1989, Donaghey 1996). Males also produce good-quality vocal avian mimicry, as do other polygynous bowerbird species (Frith & Frith 1993, 2000b; Frith & McGuire 1996 and references therein). During the display season, an adult male leaves his bower-site to forage, bathe, collect sticks for the bower and harvest or steal bower decorations (Frith & Frith 2000c). Males spend an average of 50% (range 32-69%) of daylight within 15-20 m of their bower, with a mean of 2.9 (range 2.2-4.2) bower visits per hour averaging 9.5 minutes in duration (Frith & Frith 2000b ). Annual seasonality and levels of bower attendance by male Golden Bowerbirds, their diurnal activities at traditional bowers, and distances travelled from bowers, are summarised in Frith & Frith (2000b,c). Several display postures or movements by adult males at bowers have been observed, but these have not been put into the context of a courtship progression and have not been seen to result in mating (Frith & Frith 2000b). Males display on and about their bower-perch by bowing and nodding, sometimes with a bower decoration held in the bill. They also display by flying and hovering about the immediate bower-site, thus dramatically emphasising their brilliant yellow flight­ feathers (Frith 1989). During our field studies, we saw adult males performing brief to prolonged displays, at low and high intensity, on many occasions (Frith & Frith 2000b ). In some instances these displays appeared to be performed by a male alone (no conspecific being observed in the area). Sometimes they were directed at female-plumaged conspecifics, but we never saw these presumed courtship displays result in copulation. As we have described and discussed elsewhere the display activities of adult males at bowers (Frith & Frith 2000b ), only a brief summary is needed here. Conspecific visitors to a bower-site may elicit a display by the resident male that includes at least one of the three basic elements we defined as: the Bow, Head­ nod-and-shake, and Flight/hover display traits. Another common response of the bower-owning male to a visitor on the bower-perch was a vigorously rapid Displacement chase to expel the visitor from the bower-site. This involved the owner flying at the visitor with accompanying loud vocalisations. Of 144 Displacements observed, 76% were directed at conspecifics and 24% at other birds (see Frith & Frith 2000b). Although we repeatedly observed the above three basic display elements that we thought would feature in courtship behaviour, typically delivered in a progressive sequence, we could not confirm this. Of a total of 146 displays that we observed, a female-plumaged conspecific (sex unknown) was simultaneously at the bower on only 26 occasions (18% ), with none resulting in copulation. We stress, however, that most of our direct observations at bowers were made from canvas hides with our vision restricted by a small aperture (18 x 8 em) facing the VOL. 19 (1) MARCH 2001 Display of Golden Bowerbird 7 direction of the bower. The limited view restricted us to mostly observing behaviour performed on or immediately about bowers. Subsequent experience at a bower beside a public path, however, provided us with new insights into the behaviour of adult males near bowers. At this particular bower the owning adult male and several conspecifics were accustomed to the presence of people, and we could therefore observe them unimpeded by the need for hides. We believe the observed displays to have been courtship, and that they will prove to be typical courtship of the species, since this would account for many incomplete sequences of behaviour that we observed or heard at other bowers. We stress, however, that the behaviour reported here was that of a single adult male directed at female­ plumaged birds of unconfirmed sex. We refer to females in the context of the observations only, as in no instance could we confirm the sex of female-plumaged individuals at which adult males directed displays. We report here for the first time behaviour that we believe provides new insights into the courtship of the Australian-endemic Golden Bowerbird. Methods Our main Golden Bowerbird studies were performed in rainforest, approximately 8SO m asl, on the Paluma Range (19°00'S, 146°10'E), 7 km from the Paluma township, some 80 km north of Thwnsville, Queensland. Habitat was simple notophyll vine forest, which occurs at 600-1000 m asl (1l"acey 1982). For further details see Frith & Frith (199S; 1998; 2000a,b,c,d). We systematically observed all adult male activity over 4S9 hours at six established large bowers during the courtship seasons of 1982 and 1983: 7 September- IS November 1982 (369 h), and 3 November-S December 1983 (90 h). Cryptic canvas hides were erected 6 m from each 6ower two weeks before starting observations.
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