In the 1970's we had a brown/green plumaged Satin Bowerbird take up
residence for a few days in our garden in the outer eastern suburbs of
Melbourne. This bird, which I presumed to be male, was attracted to
yellow/green objects. We had a chook coop, and this bird would go
through what looked like a courtship display for the chooks, using these
yellow/green objects.
_____________________________
Steven Creber
Ph: 03 9474 9243
Fx: 03 9499 8283
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Michael Todd
Sent: Thursday, 1 June 2006 9:01 PM
To: Lee & Margi
Cc:
Subject: Bowerbird behaviour - Bunya Mountains QLD
Hello Lee,
They are fantastic aren't they? The behaviour of bowerbirds and in
particular Satin Bowerbirds is one of the most interesting features of
Australian birds. I've been watching a recently located Satin Bowerbird
bower just inside my neighbour's backyard over the last few weeks. In
time I'll put together a photographic essay for my website.
Did you notice any yellow objects at the bower as well? A bowerbird I
recently watched at New Lambton Heights (Newcastle, NSW) was decorating
its bower with short pieces of yellow/green conifer leaves. The bower
I've been watching here at home has no yellow objects as of yet- I've
started keeping tabs on what he has at the bower and how it might change
over time. His favourite object seems to be a particular blue peg- not
just any old blue peg. Incidentally my home bower faces almost directly
east-west in conflict with most of the literature. This east-west angle
is good for catching afternoon sun where the bower is located.
As for Philip Veerman's concerns. Well, I can see where he is coming
from but I think he is getting concerned over nothing:
/Over supply of attractive objects would have to impact on the birds'
behaviour/,
In an urban situation there is already an oversupply of blue objects.
Straws, pegs, bottle tops etc. I doubt that the supply of extras will
lead to any problems here unless you did it on a massive scale. Yes, the
plastic rings on milk and juice bottles could be a problem- I'm sure
that this has been discussed on birding-aus previously. Its wise to
always cut that ring- There must be a lot of them out there though that
the average joe public are throwing out. I don't think putting the odd
object out for the bowerbirds would do any harm.
/an additional source of littering the forest.
/In urban situations there tends to be a lot of litter around which
isn't pleasant to the human eye but mostly causes no real problems for
wildlife. The number of wrecked cars in remnants of bushland on the east
coast of Australia must be huge. When they are newly dumped they are an
eyesore admittedly. Older ones can be interesting though. I saw an old
FJ Holden in a nice little remnant at Tingira Heights (Lake Macquarie)
recently. I'd love to know whether they are used by fauna as an
alternative to hollow logs. I'm not sure whether their insulation
properties would be as good as the natural thing though. /
/
It's worth browsing the birding-aus archives for Satin Bowerbird
stories- there are one or two good ones there.
Cheers
Mick Todd
Michael Todd
Wildlifing
Images & Sounds of Nature
Latest Additions: Hawaii (Big Island- Aki, Pueo, Wandering Tattler)
www.wildlifing.com
Toronto, NSW, Australia
0410 123715
Lee & Margi wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> My wife & I recently had the pleasure of watching the antics of Satin
> Bowerbirds on our trip to the Bunya Mountains (QLD).
>
>
>
> We arrived thinking we would have to 'search' for these birds but were
> surprised to see so many of them flying around the housing estate and
> rainforest. There would have been 4-8 at any one time just in our
yard
> alone. Their calls were amazing and seemed to come from any tree
around.
>
>
>
> After reading someone's post recently about how a bowerbird stole the
lid
> off a drinking bottle I went armed with a small mixture of shiny blue
things
> to see what (if any) reaction they got. After seeing so many
Bowerbirds
> flying around our yard I just placed some items on the lawn and sat
back
> with my camera ready. It only took about 5mins before the first young
male
> came down and took off with a few items (a blue money box that was cut
into
> strips). Next a fully coloured male came down and left with a milk
bottle
> lid.
>
>
>
> The next young male that came down took off into the garden with its
find so
> I followed it and discovered that it was building a bower next to a
hedge
> along the driveway. I sat on the edge of the garden and watched as
the
> young bird picked up small straight sticks and carefully placed them
along
> the wall, he'd move a few around, step back and look at them, and swap
some
> with other sticks. There was a small collection of blue things
already in
> place (various lids mainly) to which he had added my pen lids and
money box
> strips. When placing some of the sticks he would rub his bill up and
down
> each one before putting them in place.
>
>
>
> I left him alone for a bit and went to investigate a group of King
Parrots
> and Crimson Rosellas that had landed across the road. When I returned
a
> fully coloured male was sitting next to a now destroyed bower, the
younger
> bird was still close by and when it flew down, the older bird took off
with
> a blue lid. The male returned many times, each time leaving with a
blue
> item. For the rest of the weekend the young bird would partially
rebuild
> its bower only to have it knocked down by other males (some developed,
some
> not). It wasn't until we visited the nearby National Parks office and
read
> a research paper on Bowerbirds that we learnt that this was normal
behaviour
> for the birds.
>
>
>
> The next day I saw a fully coloured male emerge from a garden across
the
> road where it proceeded to do a sideways 'crab walk' up and down the
garden?
> A courtship display I guess?.
>
>
>
> Watching the behaviour of these birds was fascinating and one of my
most
> memorable birding experiences to date.
>
>
>
> In addition to the Satin Bowerbirds, our yard was also visited by both
male
> and female Regent Bowerbirds, although they would just eat some
berries off
> the trees and leave.
>
>
>
> Happy birding
>
>
>
> Lee
>
> Hervey Bay - QLD
>
>
>
> ===============================
> www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
>
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to:
> ===============================
>
>
>
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
=============================
|
