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Ornament colour selection, visual contrast and the shape of colour preference functions in great bowerbirds, Chlamydera nuchalis
Male bowerbird visual signals include their own plumage, a structure they construct out of plant material, and coloured objects (ornaments) placed on or near the structure, all of which are used to attract females for mating. Ornaments on bowers are known to contrast with plumage, bower structure and visual backgrounds in seven Australian Bowerbird species. We estimated the colour preferences in a wild population of great bowerbirds (Chlamydera nuchalis) using artificially coloured objects widely spaced in bird colour space. We found that birds prefer colours which contrast with their own plumage, the bower structure, and the visual backgrounds adjacent to the bower, and that they have very strong dislikes for colours which are similar to the plumage and visual backgrounds. The range of disliked colour hues was much narrower than the range of preferred colours, suggesting that the word “preference” may be misleading. Preferences for colour are inherently multidimensional and should be studied in the context of their function.DOI (Digital Object Identifier, will open in another window):: doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2006.05.005
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DOI (Digital Object Identifier, will open in another window):: doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2006.05.005