Bower birds

[Duncan McCaskill via Canberrabirds <>]

The Garden Bird Survey goes back to 1981-82. There are no records of Satin Bowerbird from the first year (1981-82), but they have been recorded every year since. The first records were from Weston Creek suburbs, with occasional records from neighbouring areas in South Canberra and Tuggeranong through the 1980s and early 1990s. They have become very common on Canberra's south side from about the late 1990s. There are a couple of records from the inner north from 1987-88 and 2002-03, and they became regularly reported there from around 2009.

There have been a few records from the Belconnen region from 2001-02, with regular records from around 2012, although they are not nearly as common as they are on the south side.

There are no GBS records for Bowerbirds from Gungahlin. 

For more recent years, eBird would have more detailed records of their distribution.

On Thu, 8 Aug 2024 at 10:48, Rob Geraghty via Canberrabirds <> wrote:

In Lamington National Park in Queensland, the Satin Bowerbirds seem to like to mimic the call of the Riflebird. It's a favourite for the Albert Lyrebirds to mimic also. Having grown up only seeing Satin Bowerbirds in subtropical rainforest, it's been surprising to me to see Bowerbirds in Canberra. Do we know how far back records of Bowerbirds in Canberra go? I know that some bird species are now in northern Sydney which weren't there when I was growing up in the 70s, like the Brush Turkey and Superb Lyrebird. I went to Kuringai High School in the 70s and neither species was present, but there's now Scrub Turkeys at Bobbin Head and I saw a Lyrebird at the north fence of the school.

On Thu, 8 Aug 2024, 10:31 Charmian Lawson via Canberrabirds, <> wrote:

Good morning

We have had numbers of bower birds, male and female and juveniles, in our garden in Holder since we came here in 2003. They are always of interest, particularly as there always seems to be a bower under construction or destruction somewhere, including one recently built completely in the open. This was destroyed by a rival or rivals a couple of weeks later.

However, the thing that has been fascinating of late, is that one of the birds is mimicking the call of the yellow tailed blacks which were flying over recently. The call is so loud and so accurate that I have looked for the cockatoo only to realise I have been tricked again.  Another ( I am assuming it is a different bird) mimics a kookaburra, but the call, though accurate, is really quite subdued.

It is great to see the King Parrots and a Gang Gang pair back again. Not so good to see and hear all the noisy mynahs and Indian mynahs though....

All the best

Charmian Lawson

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