The Weekly Chirp: Beautiful Bowers

The frantic pace and chaos of urban life has, among other things, strained the dating lives of adults around the world. No one has time for things they consider to be unimportant and not urgent like dating, and as a result long-weekends in the White Mountains have been replaced with punctual dinners and casual hookups. This ever-strengthening crunch on time dedicated to our romantic social lives has re-emphasized and underscored the necessity and efficacy of one of our most primal social behaviors — attractive displays.

Nearly all male birds depend on attractive displays to acquire a mate for the breeding season, whenever it may be. (In phalaropes, the females are the ones who display. Cool, right?) This intense sexual selection has resulted in the brilliant plumages and exquisite dances we have come to expect from the avian community. Birds from around the world employ an arsenal of bright colors, complex songs, calculated movements and flashy filoplumes to attract a mate, but in Oceania exists a bird that only requires its beak to accomplish the task: the bowerbird.

Bowerbirds inhabit areas of Australia and New Guinea, living and breeding in many different habitats. They acquired their name from their distinguished courtship behavior — a male bowerbird, when ready to attract a mate, will construct a bower (a shady structure) out of mainly twigs and decorate it with whatever he can find. When a potential mate arrives at the scene, the male bowerbird allows her to inspect his creation. The better the bower, the more likely it is that the female will allow the male to breed with her. Construct a poor bower, and the female will be onto the next one.

Decorative items added to the bower by the male tend to include shells, flowers, leaves and even feathers from other birds. Male bowerbirdswill not hesitate to use man-made objects in their bowers, either — anything that might attract a female is a valuable material. Scientists and birders have recorded quite the collection of items in these bowers, from colorful shards of plastic to old shotgun shells to stolen diamond engagement rings.

We giggle over the cuteness of this behavior, but are we really any different? While we don’t each individually construct a structure from twigs to allure a mate, we all have our own bower. Does that rich guy across the street from you own a Lamborghini because he likes its gas mileage, or because it attracts attention? Do we wear jewelry because we like the pain of piercing our ears, or because of the perpetual desire to seek the admiration of potential partners? Does a lax bro not adorn his tank, shirt, shorts, boxers, spandex, forwards hat, backwards hat and shaft of his stick with American flags to provoke curiosity and awe from women?

We may have access to a more advanced wardrobe of technology, but no matter how grandiose, colorful, shiny or splendid an item we may create, its basal structure will always be that of the bower.

 

Love,

Henry