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| Male (black) and female Satin Bowerbird at bower, near St Helens Park, NSW |
In our local bushland, we see lots of flashes of black as male Satin Bowerbirds dart around. Stephen decided to investigate further and found a bower, under dense shrubs. This gave him an idea and back he came with his trusty go-pro to see if he could capture any action in the bower. Putting the go-pro out early in the morning and set to take a photo every 5 minutes we did not know what would happen. Back at home sifting through the photos. Success! Male, female and lots of dancing and prancing amongst a sea of blue.
The male builds the bower with sticks and then collects bright blue objects like pegs and bottle caps to decorate his masterpiece and attract a mate. Once a female arrives near the bower he will strut and flap his wings in a kind of dance, then sing, buzz and rattle all as part of the courtship routine.
On the third day of capturing photos, Stephen found another bower further down the track, bigger and even more decorated, a real Taj Mahal. So he ran back for the go pro and moved to the new bower. Later that day we saw the results, this male was very popular, he had up to 5 females vying for his attention.
Males that are popular will increase the noise and aggressiveness in their courtship routine to ensure that only the strongest females get the opportunity to mate with him. In the next phase of breeding the female is on her own and builds a nest up to 30 metres high. Our mission now is to find a nest location.
All in all, another amazing wildlife experience close to home.
Reference: https://australianmuseum.net.au/satin-bowerbird
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| I can dance and show you my 'blue bits' at the same time. |
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| Pick me, pick me! 5 females vying for attention. |
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| Another male and female Satin Bowerbird, ready to do the deed? |
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| Stephen figuring out the angles and positioning the gopro |
