Each court consists of one or more saucer-shaped depressions or "bowls" dug in the ground by the male, up to deep and long enough to fit the half-metre length of the bird. The kakapo is one of only a handful of birds in the world which actually constructs its leks. Bowls are often created next to rock faces, banks, or tree trunks to help reflect sound: the bowls themselves function as amplifiers to enhance the projection of the males' booming mating calls. Each male's bowls are connected by a network of trails or tracks which may extend along a ridge or in diameter around a hilltop. Males meticulously clear their bowls and tracks of debris. One way researchers check whether bowls are visited at night is to place a few twigs in the bowl; if the male visits overnight, he will pick them up in his beak and toss them away.