Satin Bowerbirds-Song and Dance

Ambience: satin bowerbird call
If you want to make an impression, sometimes a little extra effort goes a long way. I’m Jim Metzner and this is Pulse of the Planet. Consider the male satin bowerbird. To find a mate, he builds his honeymoon suite – his bower, out of sticks – – and decorates it with as many colorful objects as he can collect. And then, once the female comes for a call, he brings out the song and dance. Biologist Seth Coleman has been studying satin bowerbird courtship in New South Wales, Australia.

“For a female to assess a male as a potential mate she’ll arrive at his bower, she’ll sit inside the bower, and the male will sing and dance in front of her on the platform, frequently holding one of his prized decorations in his beak. Females will assess multiple males, so they’ll engage in courtship with multiple males and choose only a single male from that group to mate with.”

Ambience: male displaying call (demonstrating what he’s about to describe)

“So what you’re hearing is a male satin bowerbird during courtship mimicking (five) local bird species…. a male satin bowerbird will produce a loud, buzzing, mechanical vocalization that is very intense. And then immediately following the intense elements the male stops what he’s doing, stands almost motionless on the bower platform, and engages in a short bout of mimicry.
And what we found, which was exciting for us, is that male satin bowerbirds that were better mimics, that is their calls were a better match to the model calls, had higher male mating success So what we think is going on is that the better you mimic the model species, the more attractive you are to a female.”

Satin Bowerbirds join the time honored evolutionary tradition of males offering their services and females choosing their mates, with hopefully the best genes being passed on to continue the species. Pulse of the Planet is made possible by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.

Satin Bowerbirds-Song and Dance

When it comes to the search for a mate, the female Satin Bowerbird is looking for smooth moves and good mimicry.
Air Date:05/27/2009
Scientist:
Transcript:

Ambience: satin bowerbird call
If you want to make an impression, sometimes a little extra effort goes a long way. I'm Jim Metzner and this is Pulse of the Planet. Consider the male satin bowerbird. To find a mate, he builds his honeymoon suite - his bower, out of sticks - - and decorates it with as many colorful objects as he can collect. And then, once the female comes for a call, he brings out the song and dance. Biologist Seth Coleman has been studying satin bowerbird courtship in New South Wales, Australia.

"For a female to assess a male as a potential mate she'll arrive at his bower, she'll sit inside the bower, and the male will sing and dance in front of her on the platform, frequently holding one of his prized decorations in his beak. Females will assess multiple males, so they'll engage in courtship with multiple males and choose only a single male from that group to mate with."

Ambience: male displaying call (demonstrating what he's about to describe)

"So what you're hearing is a male satin bowerbird during courtship mimicking (five) local bird species.... a male satin bowerbird will produce a loud, buzzing, mechanical vocalization that is very intense. And then immediately following the intense elements the male stops what he's doing, stands almost motionless on the bower platform, and engages in a short bout of mimicry.
And what we found, which was exciting for us, is that male satin bowerbirds that were better mimics, that is their calls were a better match to the model calls, had higher male mating success So what we think is going on is that the better you mimic the model species, the more attractive you are to a female."

Satin Bowerbirds join the time honored evolutionary tradition of males offering their services and females choosing their mates, with hopefully the best genes being passed on to continue the species. Pulse of the Planet is made possible by the National Science Foundation. I'm Jim Metzner.