{{Short description|Species of bird}} {{speciesbox | name = Satin bowerbird | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2018 |title=''Ptilonorhynchus violaceus'' |volume=2018 |article-number=e.T22703679A130219832 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22703679A130219832.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref> | image = Satin Bowerbird at Bower 6533.jpg | image_caption = Male at bower | image2 = Ptilonorhynchus violaceus -Bunya Mountains-8.jpg | image2_caption = Female | genus = Ptilonorhynchus | parent_authority = Kuhl, 1820 | species = violaceus | authority = (Vieillot, 1816) }}
The '''satin bowerbird''' ('''''Ptilonorhynchus violaceus''''') is a species of passerine bird in the bowerbird family Ptilonorhynchidae that is endemic to eastern Australia. It is the only species placed in the genus '''''Ptilonorhynchus'''''.
==Taxonomy== The satin bowerbird was formally described in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Vieillot. He placed it with the choughs in the genus ''Pyrrhocorax'' and coined the binomial name ''Pyrrhocorax violaceus''. Viellot specified the type locality as "Nouvelle-Hollande" which is taken to be Sydney in New South Wales, Australia.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Vieillot | first=Louis Pierre | author-link=Louis Pierre Vieillot | year=1816 | title=Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle, appliquée aux arts, à l'agriculture, à l'économie rurale et domestique, à la médecine, etc. | edition=Nouvelle édition | volume=6 | location=Paris | publisher=Deterville | page=569 | doi=10.5962/bhl.title.20211 | language=French | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/18034446 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Greenway | editor2-first=James C. Jr | year=1962 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=15 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=179 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14485552 }}</ref> The satin bowerbird is now the only species placed in the genus ''Ptilonorhynchus'' that was introduced in 1820 by German naturalist Heinrich Kuhl. He specified the type species as ''Ptilonorhynchus holosericeus'', which is a junior synonym of Vieillot's ''Pyrrhocorax violaceus''.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Kuhl | first=Heinrich | author-link=Heinrich Kuhl | date=1820 | title=Beiträge zur Zoologie und vergleichenden Anatomie | language=German, Latin | location=Frankfurt am Main | publisher=Verlag der Hermannschen Buchhandlung | page=150 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28230946 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Greenway | editor2-first=James C. Jr | year=1962 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=15 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=178 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14485551 }}</ref><ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=February 2025 | title=Lyrebirds, scrubbirds, bowerbirds, Australasian treecreepers, Australasian wrens | work=IOC World Bird List Version 15.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/lyrebirds/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=31 May 2025 }}</ref> The genus name ''Ptilonorhynchus'' combines the Ancient Greek πτιλον/''ptilon'' meaning "feather" with ῥυγχος/''rhunkhos'' meaning "bill".<ref>{{ cite web | last=Jobling | first=James A. | title=Ptilonorhynchus | work=The Key to Scientific Names | url=https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/key-to-scientific-names/search?q=Ptilonorhynchus | publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology | access-date=31 May 2025 }}</ref> The specific epithet ''violaceus'' is Latin meaning "violet-coloured".<ref>{{ cite web | last=Jobling | first=James A. | title=violaceus | work=The Key to Scientific Names | url=https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/key-to-scientific-names/search?q=violaceus | publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology | access-date=31 May 2025 }}</ref>
A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2020 found that the genus ''Ptilonorhynchus'' was sister to the genus ''Chlamydera''.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1=Ericson | first1=P.G.P. | last2=Irestedt | first2=M. | last3=Nylander | first3=J.A.A. | last4=Christidis | first4=L. | last5=Joseph | first5=L. | last6=Qu | first6=Y. | date=2020 | title=Parallel evolution of bower-building behavior in two groups of bowerbirds suggested by phylogenomics | journal=Systematic Biology | volume=69 | issue=5 | pages=820–829 | doi=10.1093/sysbio/syaa040 | pmid=32415976 | doi-access=free | pmc=7440736 }}</ref>
Two subspecies are recognised:<ref name=ioc/> * ''P. v. violaceus'' (Vieillot, 1816) – southeast Queensland to southeast Victoria (southeast Australia) * ''P. v. minor'' Campbell, AJ, 1912 – southeast Cape York Peninsula, northeast Queensland (northeast Australia)
A rare natural intergeneric hybrid between the satin bowerbird and the regent bowerbird is known as Rawnsley's bowerbird.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1=Blunt | first1=D. | last2=Frith | first2=C.B. | date=2005 | title=A living 'Rawnsley's Bowerbird'- an adult male resulting from a hybridisation in the wild between a Regent ''Sericulus chrysocephalus'' and a Satin ''Ptilonorhynchus violaceus'' Bowerbird | journal=Australian Field Ornithology | volume=22 | issue=2 | pages=53–57 | url=https://afo.birdlife.org.au/afo/index.php/afo/article/download/528/512 }}</ref>
==Description== [[File:Satin Bowerbird JCB.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Satin bowerbird in Lamington National Park, Queensland, Australia]] Mature males have violet-blue eyes and are uniformly coloured black, however, light diffraction by the surface texture of the feathers results in an almost metallic sheen giving a deep shiny blue appearance.<ref name="readers digest">{{cite book| author = Richard Schodde|author2=Sonia C. Tidemann |author3=Harry L. Bell | title = Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds| year = 1986| isbn = 978-0-949819-99-4| page = 589 |publisher=Reader's Digest }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = Satin Bowerbird - Australian Museum|url = https://australianmuseum.net.au/satin-bowerbird|website = australianmuseum.net.au|access-date = 2015-06-02}}</ref> Immature males are coloured and marked the same as females and are often mistaken for them.<ref name="readers digest"/>
Females might be mistaken for the green catbird or spotted catbird with distinctively green/brown or otherwise entirely brown upper body and lighter under body with a distinct reticulated or scalloped pattern, but with very striking blue eyes.<ref name="readers digest"/>
==Distribution== The satin bowerbird is common in rainforest and tall moist sclerophyll forest in eastern Australia from southern Queensland to Victoria. There is also an isolated population in the Wet Tropics of north Queensland.
==Diet== Like all Ptilonorhynchidae, satin bowerbirds are predominantly frugivorous as adults, though they also eat leaves and a small amount of seeds and insects.<ref name="handbook">Higgins, P.J. and J.M. Peter (editors); ''Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds, Volume 6: Pardalotes to Shrike-thrushes'' {{ISBN|978-0-19-553762-8}}</ref> As nestlings, however, they are largely fed on beetles, grasshoppers and cicadas until they can fly.<ref name="bowerbirds">Rowland, Peter; ''Bowerbirds'', pp. 76-78 {{ISBN|978-0-643-09582-3}}</ref>
Satin bowerbirds are not in the least finicky in their food preferences, and have taken extremely readily to the numerous plants introduced since European settlement. Indeed, they are a major dispersal agent for a number of weedy plants, such as camphor laurel, the European olive and various species of privet.<ref>[http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/threatenedspecies/07227tpagssch6pt3.pdf "Satin Bowerbird"]</ref> They are also often persecuted by horticulturalists because they frequently raid fruit and vegetable crops. Satin bowerbirds are aggressive when foraging, frequently attempting to displace other birds from fruit trees.<ref name="bowerbirds"/>
==Courtship== thumb|right|250px|A male building the bower thumb|right|250px|Satin bowerbird at his bower Like all bowerbirds, the satin bowerbird shows highly complex courtship behaviour. Mate choice in satin bowerbirds has been studied in detail.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Coleman |first1=S. W. |last2=Patricelli |first2=G. L. |last3=Borgia |first3=G. |year=2004 |title=Variable female preferences drive complex male displays |journal=Nature |volume=428 |issue=6984 |pages=742–745 |doi=10.1038/nature02419 |pmid=15085130|bibcode=2004Natur.428..742C |s2cid=2744790 }}</ref> Males build specialised stick structures, called bowers, which they decorate with blue, yellow, and shiny objects, including berries, flowers, snail shells, and plastic items such as ballpoint pens, drinking straws and clothes pegs. As the males mature they use more blue objects than other colours. It is theorized that the preference for blue objects is due to the colour accentuating the plumage of male satin bowerbirds or that the colour blue is more familiar and the designated colour for this species.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Santen |first1=Jacquie |title=Thieving bowerbirds like bottle tops best |url=https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2006/08/28/1723333.htm |website=ABC Science |date=28 August 2006 |access-date=3 May 2021}}</ref> Females visit these and choose which male they will allow to mate with them. In addition to building their bowers, males carry out intense behavioural displays called dances to woo their mates, but these can be treated as threat displays by the females. Nestbuilding and incubation are carried out by the females alone.
Recent research has shown that female mate choice takes place in three stages: * Visits to the bowers, before nests have been built, while the males are absent * Visits to the bowers, before nests have been built, while the males are present and displaying * Visits to a selection of the bowers, after nests have been built, leading to copulation with (typically) a single male.
Experimental manipulations of the ornaments around the bowers have shown that the choices of young females (those in their first or second year of breeding) are mainly influenced by the appearance of the bowers, and hence by the first stage of this process. Older females, which are less affected by the threatening aspect of the males' displays, make their choices more on the basis of the males' dancing displays. It has been hypothesised that as males mature their colour discrimination develops and they are able to select more blue objects for the bower. It is not yet known whether this description would also hold true for other species of bowerbird.
Male satin bowerbirds are known to destroy and steal from the bowers of one another.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Borgia|first=Gerald|date=1985|title=Bower destruction and sexual competition in the satin bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus)|journal=Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology|language=en|volume=18|issue=2|pages=91–100|doi=10.1007/BF00299037|bibcode=1985BEcoS..18...91B |s2cid=36871646|issn=0340-5443}}</ref> The quality of a male's own bower does not predict how often they will destroy others. However, males who exhibit more aggression by attacking others at feeding sites tend to destroy competitor bowers more frequently.
==Nesting and life cycle== Satin bowerbirds nest between October and February. Typically two eggs but occasionally one or three are laid in a shallow nest of twigs on top of which are placed leaves of ''Eucalyptus'' or ''Acacia''. These leaves turn brown as the eggs are laid, and may serve as camouflage.<ref name="bowerbirds"/> The eggs are cream but streaked with brown, and are much larger than typical for a bird of its size at around {{convert|19|g|oz|2}};<ref name="handbook"/> they are laid every other day and hatch asynchronously after 21 days of incubation.
The young are able to fly three weeks after hatching, but remain dependent on the female for another two months, finally dispersing at the beginning of the southern winter (May or June).<ref name="bowerbirds"/>
Female satin bowerbirds mature at two to three years<ref name="handbook"/> but males do not reach maturity until seven or eight years when they have moulted completely into their characteristic blue-black adult plumage. The satin bowerbird is the longest-lived passerine with anything approaching high-quality banding data: it is estimated that the average lifespan of the species is around eight or nine years, while the record longevity in the wild of twenty-six years is the greatest for any banded passerine.<ref>Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme ''[http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/biodiversity/abbbs/abbbs-search.pl?taxon_id=378 Satin Bowerbird]''</ref>
==Gallery== <gallery> File:BowerOfSatinBowerbird.jpg|Bower File:Satinbowerbirdfemale.jpg|Female File:Satin bowerbird.jpg|Female File:Ptilonorhynchus violaceus -Victoria, Australia -female-8.jpg|Female File:Satin Bowerbird.jpg|Male File:Male Ptilonorhynchus violaceus at his bower.jpg|A male and his bower File:BBNest.jpg|A range of plastic artifacts in a bower File:DSC 0785r.jpg|Bower </gallery>
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== {{Commons|Ptilonorhynchus violaceus|Satin Bowerbird}} *{{Wikispecies-inline|Ptilonorhynchus violaceus}} * [http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=5179&m=0 BirdLife Species Factsheet] * [http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/satin-bowerbird-ptilonorhynchus-violaceus Satin Bowerbird videos, photos & sounds] on the Internet Bird Collection * [http://www.lynxeds.com/product/bowerbirds-nature-art-history Bowerbirds: Nature, Art & History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018110758/http://www.lynxeds.com/product/bowerbirds-nature-art-history |date=2017-10-18 }} by Clifford B. Frith, Dawn W. Frith
{{Bowerbird|state=expanded}} {{Passeriformes|Pa.|state=collapsed}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q585670}}
satin bowerbird Category:Birds of Queensland Category:Birds of New South Wales Category:Birds of Victoria (state) Category:Endemic birds of Australia Category:Articles containing video clips satin bowerbird satin bowerbird