Male bowerbirds are nature’s ultimate interior decorators. To attract a mate, they build and decorate elaborate structures called bowers—not nests for raising chicks, but flashy bachelor pads for courtship displays.

They decorate these bowers with a variety of carefully chosen (and often color-coordinated) objects, such as:

• Bright blue items (a favorite): berries, bottle caps, clothespins, plastic straws, pen caps

• Natural materials: feathers, shells, leaves, stones, moss

• Human-made objects: coins, bits of glass, wires, paperclips, nails, even plastic toys

• Food scraps: especially colorful or shiny ones

• Charcoal or dung: sometimes used to paint or stain the bower floor or walls

Some species, like the Satin Bowerbird, have a strong preference for blue, while others prefer yellow or white. Males will even steal from neighboring bowers to upstage their rivals.