Photo Of The Week: Western Bowerbird | Alice Springs NT

The Western Bowerbird, Chlamydera guttata, is my favorite bird. Evolutionary biologist Jared Diamond referred to bowerbirds as “the most intriguingly human of birds”. If you spend enough time watching them like I have you will quickly agree. They are well known, like all bowerbirds, for their elaborate ritualised courtship displays. The reason I like the Western Bowerbird above all others is down to the memories I have photographing them and teaching people about them. These little creatures are found in from Alice Springs to parts of the central desert areas of Western Australia. Therefore if you want to see one you need to take a trip to Australian Outback.

Western Bowerbird, Chlamydera guttata

The Alice Springs Botanic Garden: A Haven For Western Bowerbirds

My introduction to bird watching came from being a tour guide and teaching travelers about them. The more I learned about them the more fascinated I became. I then started to photograph them and that’s when I started to truly witness their behavior. Also, I am lucky enough to call bird expert Christopher Watson one of my best friends. He has encouraged me to get out and watch and learn more about birds. I took this photo on a day out birding with Chris at the Alice Springs Botanic Garden, which is a haven for many birds, including the Western Bowerbird. I know Chris is going to read this and think you still need to do more…and he’s right.

Photographing wildlife requires a lot of patients, determination, and discomfort (in my experience anyway). That is why I am overjoyed when I get a great photo because it is a real challenge sometimes. Over the next couple of weeks, I plan to head back over to the Botanic Garden and start photographing more birds.

If you are a bit of a twitcher (birder) I recommend putting the Alice Springs Botanic Garden high on your list of great birding locations in Central Australia.

I am determined to video the bowerbirds at the Botanic Garden while performing their courtship ritual and posted it here to my blog. So stay tuned for that.

A Few Bowerbird Facts

There are 20 species of Bowerbirds in 8 genera and they make up the bird family Ptilonorhynchidae.

8 species are endemic to Australia and 10 are endemic to Papua New Guinea, with two that live in both.

Ailuroedus catbirds ( a genus of birds from the Ptilonorhynchidae family) are monogamous and will rear chicks with a female, although all other Bowerbirds are polygynous where the female will build the nest and rear the chicks alone.