Satin Bowerbird observations and pictures

[Bill Roberts <>]

We have been fortunate enough to have a group of bowerbirds in our back garden since at least 2011.  During that time there has always been a bower and the birds spend a lot of time maintaining it as well as performing their displays. 

A few months ago the bower was destroyed and its large collection of blue items taken away.  I was worried that we'd lost "our" bowerbirds but some birds have returned including a mature male in full blue-black colouring and at least two birds in green.

These birds have not built a bower (yet) but the male has built an impressive mound of sticks.  Many of the sticks are from the old bower and platform but he has been very busy adding short sticks and has built the mound to a height of about 20cm.  This seems unusual to me and I can't find any reference to these birds building mounds in my (admittedly limited) bird books or on the internet.

I've put some photos in an album here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/FYDNz71BoBMyHDq27

The photos go back to 2011 when I first became aware of the birds - there are two movies of their activities from that time.  The later photos show the bower, the impressive collection of blue pegs and also the way the birds decorate the inside of the bower by chewing up my vegetable seedlings!  The most recent photos show the stick mound.

It could be that the mound is a first step to building a new bower but I'd be interested to know if anybody else has seen this behaviour.

Regards,

Bill