Satin Bowerbird

28-32 cm. Male: glossy blue-black; bill bluish white; eye blue; legs greenish white; tail short. Female: bill dark brown; eye blue; legs grey-brown; upperparts olive grey-green; wings/tail rufous-brown; underparts washed yellow buff, with fine brown scaly pattern on throat becoming bolder on breast/flanks. Immature: like female; third- and fourth-year males acquire green throat, with fine white spots, streaks; green zone across upperbreast. Bill progressively paler; adult plumage in sixth/seventh year. Singles, winter flocks of 20-50+, mainly 'green birds': robustly active; feeds on lilly pilly, crab apples, grapes, seedlings, blossom nectar. Hops vigorously; leaps between branches; flies strongly, wingtips upswept on each downstroke. Bower: avenue-type; layer of twigs on ground 5-7.5 cm deep. Two parallel arched walls of twigs form avenue c. 35 cm high, 45 cm long. Display-objects mostly blue or yellow: flowers, feathers, berries, glass, plastic, etc. Male seizes objects in bill, adopts trance-like poses, head low, eyes suffused lilac-pink, leaps sideways, flares wings/tail, utters wheezing, whirring notes; mates with females attracted.