Backyard visitors
The Picasso of the bird world has many feathers in his cap, says LEONARD CRONIN
Architect, painter, musician, dancer and mimic – the satin bowerbird is all these things, and this incredibly accomplished bird can be found in gardens up and down Australia’s east coast.
Satin bowerbirds live on the edge of wet forests and rainforests, and their territory often includes suburban gardens. In winter, they roost in flocks of 50 or more in the lofty branches of tall trees, feeding on fruit, leaves and insects. They disperse as the weather warms, and senior males return to their display sites to tend to their bowers.
Over many weeks, the male bowerbird constructs an avenue of thin sticks, woven into two walls running in a north-south direction, and adorns the stage in front of his bower with a collection of mostly blue feathers, berries, plastic and glass. He then flies off to fire-burned woodlands to collect pieces of charcoal in his beak. By the time he returns home, a saliva-based charcoal paint is oozing from his bill, and he uses this to paint the sticks in the bower. The urge to paint is overwhelming, and if he can’t find charcoal, he mashes dark berries to colour his bower.
Females are drawn to the best bowers, and as one approaches, the male flies down from a nearby perch. With his eyes bulging and glistening, he prances, stiff-legged, on his toes, raising and drooping his wings in exaggerated postures of aggression and supplication. He picks up the bright objects with his bill, waving and tossing them around as he hisses and chirrs, occasionally mimicking the calls of other birds for added effect. If she is impressed, the female moves into the bower to mate, then flies off to a distant tree to construct a saucershaped nest in which to raise her young.
The male tidies his bower and readies himself for more prospective females.
You can create habitats for bowerbirds in your garden by planting natives that have blue flowers and berries, and establishing shady, protected sites for the males to build their bowers. The male spends about a quarter of his time attending to and painting his bower, and if you invest in a wildlife camera, you can watch the artist at work from the comfort of your living room.
Len gardens in the Northern Rivers, New South Wales