Chlamydera nuchalis
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
The great bowerbird (Chlamydera nuchalis) is a common and conspicuous resident of northern Australia, from the area around Broome across the Top End to Cape York Peninsula and as far south as Mount Isa and Townsville. Favoured habitat is a broad range of forest and woodland, and the margins of vine forests, monsoon forest, and mangrove swamps.
As with most members of the bowerbird family, breeding considerations dominate the lifecycle: females nest inconspicuously and raise their young alone, while the males spend most of the year building, maintaining, improving, defending, and above all displaying from their bowers. Only a male with a successful bower can attract mates.
The great bowerbird is the largest of the bowerbird family and is 33 to 38 cm long and fawny grey in colour. Males have a small but conspicuous pink crest on the nape of the neck. The bower is a twin-walled avenue-type bower approximately 1 metre long and 45 cm high. It is typically located under a shrub or leafy branch. The ends of the bower are scattered with white and green objects - stones, bones, shells and leaves and small man-made objects such as plastic and bottle caps. Within the bower itself... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nitmiluk National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Kakadu National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Litchfield National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 2 | Edward Youde Aviary | 🇭🇰 Hong Kong SAR China |
Very likely
About 80% of wildlife watchers report a Great Bowerbird sighting in Nitmiluk National Park on a given day, based on 459 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the most-seen of the 103 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April and May
In those months about 90% of wildlife watchers report a Great Bowerbird in Nitmiluk National Park on a given day, against about 70% in January and March, the lowest months. Those are among Nitmiluk National Park's driest months, with about 25 mm of rain a month against 270 mm in January.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Great Bowerbird sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Great Bowerbird sightings, Nitmiluk National Park has the highest daily chance: about 80%. Next come Kakadu National Park (Australia, about 40%) and Litchfield National Park (Australia, about 40%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Great Bowerbird that you can see in Nitmiluk National Park (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Brown Honeyeater (about 60%), Torresian Crow (about 60%) and White-throated Honeyeater (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Great Bowerbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Nitmiluk National Park (459 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
