Ben Cruachan – natural history

I mentioned the male Satin Bowerbird a couple of posts ago, and thought I’d post this in response to Cindy’s comment. The male bird builds a structure of seduction out of grass stems and suchlike, and decorates the area with baubles which are usually blue, or green if blue things are hard to come by. Natural things like blue parrot feathers or flowers, and any manner of man made things are pressed into service in his efforts to seduce the green females. They perch above the bower watching his performance as he hops around displaying his treasures, and then if one is suitably impressed, she comes down and the deed is done. This is a bower I found, and the objects include clothes pegs, bottle tops, a blue ball point pen, and sundry pieces of blue plastic and tape.

A couple of weeks later I found a toddler’s blue toy rake as long as the bird, he had carried it from the nearest house, a kilometre away. A bigger picture is here.