Not quite what you are looking for, James, but I can't resist ...
Alec Chisholm was a noted ornithologist, historian, newspaper editor, etc.
And my mother's best friend. From the early 1950s when he took on the job
of Editor-in-Chief for Angus and Robertson's Australian Encyclopaedia, he
lived in Sydney and not infrequently took small parties birdwatching in
Royal National Park.
He once told me that if there were any ladies in a party when they were
visiting a Satin Bowerbird's bower, he would ask the party to pause some
distance away, explaining that he didn't want to frighten the bird unduly as
might happen if they all walked straight in. He would go to the bower
alone. The bird would quietly move away and all would be well.
But what he really wanted to do was to remove any used condoms that the bird
had collected for the yellow colour which they developed when left exposed
to the light. The Park, it seems, was used for more purposes than
bird-watching.
I would guess that first the contraceptive pill, and later our more affluent
society, have deprived Royal's bowerbirds of such 'treasures'.
Syd
> From: "James Lambert" <>
> Date: Sun, 04 Jun 2006 12:21:32 +1000
> To:
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Bowerbird behaviour
>
> Since then I have noticed other yellow objects, usually just one, amongst
> satin bowerbird display object sets.
>
> Has anyone else observed this behaviour?
>
> James Lambert
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