if it roughens from July to January and hissing attention getting-chant of the silk-bower-bird (27-33 cm of length) sounds in the rain-forest of the Australian East coast, a combination-ready male lures a female at its Balzplatz, that it prepared carefully, because it is necessary to steer more attention to itself than the neighbor.
Perform courtship display The silk-bower-bird is among the avenue-farmers among the bower-birds. Small branches are put together carefully on the cleaned arena (90 cm of diameter) to two opposite walls (30 cm high, 5-8 cm thickly) so that the subject to change walk (10-13 cm wide) points in North-South-direction. it will lure the females into this walk, about itself with them to verpaaren. Beside numerous useless attempts is observed as far as to five successful Verpaarungen of an adult male in a season.
On the Balzplatz lying from the avenue usually north, the male collects the oddest objects. That can be the feathers of other birds, blooms or snail-peels, that the bird of the natural surroundings takes, but as well shards, rags, Kronkorken or other products, that the human being distributed near its settlements. The borderless preference for blue tones, that can be interpreted so, is astonishing on that occasion that the effect of the own blue-violet plumage should be reinforced hereby.
However with it not enough, winner becomes the bird with the "most beautiful" Balzplatz. The silk-bower-bird uses a Borkenstückchens, satiates it with the juice of blooms and berries and paints the walls of its avenue; one of the few examples for "tool-use" in the class of the birds.
If the silk-bower-bird lured a female into its "avenue", it begins perform courtship display with it on the forecourt. its movements increase more and more. At first, it offers the female a bloom, it expresses a rhythmic, buzzing tone on that occasion. Then, the tail is lifted steeply, and the male jumps from a side to the other. It spreads the wings on that occasion far so that they almost cover the head. The light is reflected by the shiny feathers and lets the whole bird shine in a metallic blue. The olive female looks interested at the processes, but motionless. Often, a not sexually mature male is still tolerated in the proximity, that obviously must learn this Balzverhalten first. So half a hour passes until the combination is carried out.
Also the not yet sexually mature males position disorderly Balzplätze, on which is still practiced so to speak. they are colored just as olive as the females. Sometimes, they sit down into the avenue of an adult male and are expelled with the beak and the feet. Only with 7 years, they wear the adult-dress and become sexually active.
Brood After the mating, the female is left itself, the male has prepared for the next Verpaarung long ago. So the female builds a simple nest in a tree, removes from the Balzplatz only a few hundred meters and incubates also the 2 eggs (as an exception 1 or 3) alone. The boys are fed with insects. Approximately 19 days after it slips, they can leave the nest, is not yet airworthy, however. Later, they join the swarms of the silk-bower-birds, that wander through the country outside the incubation on the food-search. Only in next July, the adult males come back again into its Balzterritorien.
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