Dear All
I arrived home today to find the trees gone, cut down to the ground. I found the eggs all smashed.
The neighbour decided they were a fire hazard as the trees were ‘dead’ – not true, they were very green and alive.
As a reminder – the Satin Bower Bird set her boundaries with the aggressive resident family of four magpies, the wattle birds and the pied currawong and probably others I did not see. She created
quite a stir with even the pair of local mudlarks flying by several times seemingly checking out the latest arrival.
She has been back looking for the nest.
Unbelievable.
Merarth
From: Merarth Tarrant
Sent: Saturday, 28 November 2020 10:30 AM
To: <>
Subject: RE: Silver Bowerbird nesting update
She’s back and is sitting.
Weds: Heard the same hissing and noticed she was in a tree in back garden. She then swooped the Currawong twice then back to nest building.
Fri: Hissing from the undergrowth of the narrow strip trees - wattle bird flew off, she climbed up to nest and sat, full head visible.
Sat: She is still there and visible. Tail up and head down this morning.
Merarth
From: Merarth Tarrant
Sent: Wednesday, 25 November 2020 12:47 AM
To: <>
Subject: Silver Bowerbird nesting update
Thank all for your informative responses.
I believe there may be a bower close by, either in our back yard where there is quite a bit of tangled shrubbery along the back fence. I saw her there and caught glimpses/heard sounds of a bird diving
in there before.
I thought she may have disappeared on Saturday but she was back intermittently on Sunday and then all morning yesterday prior to the downpour. It was very noticeable that she was approaching the
nest from multiple points of ingress, not repeating her approach at all as with previous days. I saw she returned at least twelve times and was now bringing vegetation of different colours, notably red and yellow. She worked hard, that’s for sure, then the
downpour.
Sadly, today, Tuesday, I saw the ‘house Currawong’ visit the nest, I guess looking for eggs. It has a few fantastic vantage points where it no doubt tracks the nest building and sources of eggs.
The Currawong took an interesting exit (read: snuck out the back door) and when it flew out of the trees on the corner of our roof, it was surprisingly swooped by a Wattlebird (a female Red Wattle I think). It’s all happening in the driveway here.
The nest isn’t finished yet. I fear she may not return but it has been an incredibly interesting and distracting week watching the Bowerbird and the behaviour of the other birds. I was surprised
she was able to establish a boundary with the magpies, particularly given one of the adults actually climbed up close to the nest.
By the way Rosemary, it is very addictive! I did find out a lot about her movements through our yard and into the neighbouring gardens. She really is a fascinating bird, I hope I see her again,
if not in the nest, then nearby.
I’ll let you know if she comes back.
Merarth
From: Rosemary Blemings
Sent: Sunday, 22 November 2020 4:08 PM
To: Merarth Tarrant <m("bigpond.net.au","merarth");">>
Subject: Re: [Canberrabirds] Bird ID - Grey Shrikethrush?
Watching birds can be addictive Merarth but what an opportunity!
May you have many happy hours with the nest builder..
SBB’s come through our jungly garden once a year seeking the fruits of Muehlenbeckia that’s raging over the back fence.
Flynn
On 22 Nov 2020, at 9:28 am, Merarth Tarrant <> wrote:
That was another option I was looking at but I wasn’t sure about the nest as it’s in a tree and deepish. I was quietly optimistic it might be a bower bird. Fun watching the progress from my study.
Thank you, and to Martin.
Meredith, no, it’s a female Satin Bowerbird, which will be building and nesting all on her own.
What suburb are you in? We saw a female nest building at Campbell Park during the nest workshop last Sunday.
Is the bird in the photo a Grey Shrike-Thrush? I first saw it a couple of weeks ago and it has now returned to build a nest.
She, presumably, has stood her ground against the aggressive resident magpies and even dived into the family as they were foraging under the trees where her nest is in progress.
To my knowledge, I’ve not heard her call but heard a hissing sound when she dive bombed the magpies.
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