Satin Bowerbird

	A male Satin Bowerbird Photographer - Gary Lewis Source - Gary Lewis Photography Pty. Ltd
	A female Satin Bowerbird Photographer - Gary Lewis Source - Gary Lewis Photography Pty. Ltd

Ptilonorhynchus violaceus

The dark glossy-blue male Satin Bowerbird attracts potential mates by building a bower of twigs and grass. He decorates the bower with blue and yellow objects - feathers, shells, glass, berries and uses them to display to females.

Female Satin Bowerbirds that are attracted by this will mate with the male, then fly off and build a separate nest in which to lay their eggs.

The male does not help in the incubation or raising of the young.

From DNA based studies it has been suggested that the world's songbirds may have had their origins in the supercontinent Gondwana (which included Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica, Africa and South America).

Bowerbirds are thought to represent one of these ancient lineages of songbirds that arose in Australia some 50 million years ago.