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The male gardener attracts the female with beautiful artificial ornaments.

The male gardener is known for his complex courtship. They make tunnels with branches and decorative with beautiful objects collected from the environment. When the female comes to visit, the male throws his brightest things at the female, showing the gorgeous feathers and hoping to attract the female. According to a new paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, urbanization and the accompanying growing popularity of luminous man-made products have had a significant impact on the mating behaviour of Australian male gardener birds and even found handcuffs. The observations of urban and rural gardener birds show that urban birds are more than 10 times more likely to use artificial ornaments than rural birds, which use more natural objects as decorations. The number of urban gardener decorations is almost five times that of rural gardener birds, with an average of 90, while rural gardener birds averaged only 20. One male gardener living in the city even collected 300 ornaments. Whether living in urban or rural areas, gardener birds show a preference for artificial ornaments. According to researchers, human activity is changing nature in an unexpected manner.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/06/male-bowerbirds-prefer-colorful-human-items-to-decate-bowers/