Dear all
Have been amusing myself watching the behaviour of the young male SBB in
my front garden. This I assume is the male that turned from green to
black a few months ago - still has a few brownish feathers on flanks and
belly. In my small front garden the Hakea laurina (Pincushion Hakea) is
in full flower and attracting lots of birds - mainly Eastern Spinebills,
Red Wattlebirds and lots of Satin Bowerbirds. The male has decided this
is an opportunity too good to miss and has turned a patch of flattened
sugarcane mulch under the tree into his display area. There are broken
blue pens, blue straws, bottle tops and one short yellow straw strewn
around, with a very pathetic attempt to build a bower - so far just a
few sticks flat on the ground with today 2 standing upright. I am woken
each morning with him hissing and churring as he dances around his
treasures. Gets very excited when a green bird stops eating and drops
down to have a look, when he ducks his head, raises and slightly flares
his tail and quickly flips his wings open and closed as he dances around
'her' (do I assume it's a 'her'?); this can go on for 5 or more minutes,
and sometimes he carries a cream flower in his bill. I guess that
without a proper bower he won't get very far. Today a green bird made
off with one of the blue bottle tops, later back in place.
Two days ago I was having coffee on the back deck when he landed on the
edge 3 m from me with 3 sticks in his beak - dropped them, looked at me,
then the sticks, picked them up again and flew off towards the front
garden. Amazing what instinct makes birds do (and other animals for that
matter). I think I'll collect some suitably sized sticks and see if he
uses them - just to give him a hand - interfering with nature?
I've also watched a green SBB (female?) breaking off sticks in a tree
and a White-headed Pigeon female doing the same so looks as if they are
nest building. The weather's been unnaturally warm until today when rain
and wind hit us, reminding us winter is not yet over. No doubt snow on
Barrington Tops and glad to see rain out west.
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