Pete's Flap Birding Aus: Satin bowerbird

Showing posts with label Satin bowerbird. Show all posts

Friday, January 18, 2013

Bird construction Inc. (nests, tunnels, bowers)

It appears that summer in Wee Jasper is still family time with many juvenile birds around and still much evidence of nesting activity.

I am always a little excited to come up from Melbourne and see the Rainbow Bee-eaters. These are distant views taken across the Goodradigbee River but they show the bird leaving and approaching the nesting tunnel.

Rainbow bee-eater, January 2013

Fairy martin bottle nests

This Willie wagtail nest was built over the water.

It was pointed out by the kids who had noticed it while floating down the river on tyre tubes.

What works best - the feather or the cap? Not a nest of course but the bower of the Satin bowerbird.

And finally Marj K has some nice shots of Leaden flycatchers nesting at nearby Micalong Reserve.

Bird on!

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Satin bowerbirds in active bower, Wee Jasper

This bower adjacent to our accommodation at Swinging Bridge Reserve, Wee Jasper, has been active for a few years now. We visited in January 2012 and again last week.

Satin bowerbird (Chlamydera violaceus)

Fussing over a prized feather (I suspect a rosella tail feather) ....

and performing minor renovations.

I suspect this "green bird" is an immature male. The colouring differs slightly from the female bird after the third year with the satin blue-black adult plumage evident by seven years. This bird was noticed to be making several adjustments to the bower and its associated blue adornments. I'm not sure how the family politics runs when the younger males start making adjustments to the bower!