Birds that Steal your Stuff so they can build a Sex Palace - Nature Rules.

G'day,

For the last 8 or so years we've worked really hard to build a nice small house out on our Bush Block that we can eventually move to permanently.

There's a long way to go and we don't always get there often enough to make it happen in a hurry.

Some of the paving and gardens have decorative pebbles in them, both as a feature and to absorb the rainwater by acting as a soak drain.

Lately we've noticed some of the pebbles have gone missing and the spare bags have been tampered with.
At first it was a bit of a mystery because we found them scattered all over the place but now it's all worked itself out!

Turns out, there's a Bower Bird setting up camp at the bottom of our cleared area and he's building a big "Bower" and using our pebbles as the main decoration.

I did a bit of research using an old Bird Book from the 1980's.

From what I can understand, this is only the beginning and he's going to be adding to it for years to come. I hope our supply of pebbles keeps up!

The "Bower" is not actually a nest. When the time comes, they have a normal nest just like any other bird!
The "Bower" is purely an elaborate "Display" to get the "Sheila" interested.
Our bloke seems to have 3 girlfriends who hang around on a regular basis. (lucky bugger)

They're quite timid and difficult to approach but I'm hoping to do some good video footage next week when we go down there.
They have a very elaborate mating ritual that all revolves around the "Bower" and I hope they will be in action when we are there so I can capture it all on video?

Until then, here are some pictures from last weekend.

Missing Pebbles.

Broken bags of pebbles.

More pebbles missing - looks like a bit of a workshop happening!

So this is where they're all ending up (except for the ones dropped all over the place!)

The Bower is taking shape!

Notice the 3 Pebbles inside made to look like Eggs.

Notice the worn track where he hops around the outside all the time.

All the stuff he collects. I'm going to throw a bag of marbles everywhere to see if I can get him off the pebbles?

If I get some good video footage, I'll do another post next week.

All the best and have a Great Christmas!!
From Wayne.