The male has a golden crest extending from forehead, blackish wing and long tail.

The female is smaller with blue-grey feet and without crown feathering.

A polygamous species, the Sanford's bowerbird inhabits to eastern highlands of Papua New Guinea.

This bowerbird was discovered by Ernest Thomas Gilliard in 1950 at Mount Hagen, Papua New Guinea.

It is named after Leonard Cutler Sanford, a trustee of the American Museum of Natural History.