satin bower bird - almost

[33South (Chris)]

Wandering round my yard trying out my new compact camera (Lumix TZ10) I spotted some blue plastic clothes pegs in the underbrush, following the trail I came across:-

A bower plus more blue pegs, feathers, plastic , bottle tops and even pen barrels over 100 items. No sign of the male, wrong time of year ?

[renormalised (Carl)]

And someone has been wondering where their pegs have been disappearing to!!!!

[circumpolar (Matt)]

I thought someone had stolen my blue pot...........
Then I found it.

Now thats how you impress the ladies!

[RB (Andrew)]

They're unbelievable, we've had them up in the bush too.
Amazing birds.

Thanks for the shots guys.

[Vanda (Ian)]

Get the bird next time! Interesting pics none the less!

[Octane (Humayun)]

Quite humbling, actually. Such interesting creatures.

There was an Attenborough documentary on tonight, called Life. The behaviour of the bower bird would fit right into the rest of the things the animals in that show do.

H

[AstralTraveller (David)]

Vermin!!! Vermin I say!!!!!!!!

One of the little pests has decided that the leaves of my capsicums are tasty. I caught it red-handed - well green beaked - on Saturday. I'm now wondering what will be the fate of any fruit that they or the tomatoes bear.

In urban ares there are lots of blue things around but the colour is much rarer in the bush. This bower was at Camms Top Place, basically between Omeo and Dargo in the Vic high country.

[Liz]

Wow, what amazing nests, thanks Matt.
Yes, what a way to impress the ladies.

[Brundah1 (David)]

FYI the "bower" is not the nest. The "bower" is the display area for the male Bower Bird.

Years ago when my daughter was 8 y o, we camped at Binna Burra in Lamington NP. Next morning my daughter complained that someone had taken her blue hair clip. Being an old Gould League member, I asked where she left it "on this tree stump". We conducted a search and found the bower some 8M from our camp! Yes the clip was found right at the center of the bower. I recalled we were taught that Bower Birds are traders, so we went back to the tree stump and found several ripe berries neatly laid where her hair clip had been.

I suggested my daughter collect some more blue milk bottle tops etc and place them in exchange them for her blue hair clip. D

[Octane (Humayun)]

David,

That is amazing -- I didn't know they were traders. Such intelligent little things. I'm inspired by the images and the things said in this thread to do a Google search and do so research on this fascinating creature.

H

[Brundah1 (David)]

Yes we underrate our native birds. They can teach us many things if we have the time to observe and research. Sure some can be pests and dependance feeding in the urban landscape causes lots of problems and imbalance. Planting the right native trees etc. does help. Rubbish tips also attract the badies.
D