On Red Hill in suburban south Canberra I noted a Satin Bowerbird male
displaying to females this afternoon in the absence of a bower.
It was displaying to one female near the ground in moderately thick
low shrubs, bouncing on and off a low branch making the usual whirring
calls. It then flew up to ten feet or so in the lower boughs of a dead
eucalypt and bounced from bough to bough, not gaining any height,
making the same calls, while at least four females inspected the
performance from much higher up (the top branches of the tree).
Finally the male flew another 10 meters to bare area of ground and
began courting one female who was on the ground with him.
Although I was reluctant to do too much poking around I am confident
that nowhere in this area was there a bower. All this must have taken
place at least 50 meters from a bower.
(For those who know Red Hill this was nowhere near the bower that used
to exist near the golf-course. Instead it was directly up the hill
from the Kent Street Telstra offices, just below the second
water-tank.)
Has anyone heard of Satin Bowerbird displays away from the bower? The
sight of the male and females in the dead tree reminded me of footage
I had seen of Bird of Paradise display trees in New Guinea (I know
Bowerbirds aren't closely related to BoPs).
--
John Leonard
Canberra
Australia
www.jleonard.net
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