These are the last lot of photos I took with my old camera which fell apart on me. These photos were taken on 20th July 2014 at Tenterfield, NSW. I heard the Bower birds before I saw them then suddenly they showed up in the garden by my letter box one at a time. Somehow they knew there was food (Cornflakes breakfast cereal) in the garden and started checking it out, then began eating it. There were 3 other bird species attracted to the Cornflakes: Torresian Crows, Australian Magpies and Pied Currawongs. The Satin Bower birds (males I believe) ate a few mouthfuls of cereal then took off. That particular day there were Satin Bower birds passing through my area coming from what sounded like a north/north-east direction heading south/south-east. Each bird stayed no longer than 10 minutes in the immediate area then took off on it's previous course. Only 4 of about 15 Satin Bower birds decided to cross the road to eat the cereal. This influx of Satin Bower birds lasted from about 11:50AM until about 1:30PM. There were no more Satin Bower birds passing through thereafter. These photos were taken around 12:30PM after which no more Satin Bower birds visited my front garden but kept flying through the area instead. I chose these particular photos because they give a better view of the shape of the actual birds when doing things like bending, looking down and eating.
Oh the horror of taking photos through flywire screens. The last 7 photos were taken through a hole in my bedroom window's flywire screen. At least I have some decent photos of these birds now.
Wow thats amazing to see so many in a short space of time. Fascinating observations - did you only see males?
Very nice photos - thanks for sharing.
I didn't actually see all of the Satin Bower birds. I only saw 4 of them and as they were all black and had partially yellow beaks, except for the first one that I saw had a bright canary yellow beak, I'm guessing they were males. The ones in the photos I took that is. I really don't know if there were females in all of the ones I heard go through my area. They all sounded the same to me when they were calling out when resting in the Pine tree across the road from my place.
The first photo is the second individual I saw. The second photo is of the third individual I saw. The remaining photos is of the fourth individual I saw who hung around for more that 5 minutes so I have lots more photos of him that the others. He seemed the most relaxed out of the 4 individuals I saw and didn't mind me watching him from about 15 feet away. He spent most of his time just sitting on the fence resting I think before being interested in the food. All the Satin Bower birds must have been in flight for some time, some perhaps even travelling further distances than others. It just makes me wonder why they would be migrating southish and together? I thought Satin Bower birds spend all their time making display nests to attract females, or am I thinking of another Bower bird species? I can't remember now. You're welcome for the share. Just wanted to add them and glad you enjoyed them.
I'm at Tenterfield, NSW. (Formerly known as "Hyperbirds".)
You are right the male Satin Bower bird makes those bowers - I guess they need some time off from that as well!
There is interesting information in the Birds in Backyards fact sheet for the Satin Bower bird - i did not know the males only get that full blue/black plummage when they are about 7 years old. You might have seen something quite unusual seeing a group of full grown males together.
Thanks for that info WhistlingDuck. Perhaps the males were on their way to find the females and have to travel long distances to get to them. The countryside up here is becoming a lot more arid and we're having less and less rain as each year passes. I've been in Tenterfield since 1996, seems like forever ago now.
I'm at Tenterfield, NSW. (Formerly known as "Hyperbirds".)
I have a family of Satin Bowerbirds here, one male who is very confident and comes to the verandah railing to say hello and around four females (females are green in colour with flecked chests). The females are feeding young as they stack bits of fruit I throw out for them and take off with the beak loaded for the nest.
These birds love fruit scraps, especially apple and pear cores and diced banana, they even have a go at mango seeds. They also like Kiwi fruit scaps too. The females are very noisy with deep raspy chatter and gutteral noise.
The male loves anything dark blue to decorate his bower, I put out dark blue drink bottle caps and he glady receives them, he never takes the lighter blue ones, only the dark.
Also there is one particular female who does a great impersonation of an Australian Magpie too...
You are fortunate to have a family of Satin Bowerbirds at your place. I've done a lot of research on these birds and have watched them because they are in the area in July only of each year but sometimes juveniles will appear in the area (one individual on any given day never more than 10 individuals over the entire Summer season) later on in the year. It is such a shame to see them all disappear from the area. I can't remember what year it was but one Summer I saw nearly 50 Satin Bowerbrids on my front lawn (no adult males though). They were eating the seeds of the lawn. I've tried feeding apple pieces to a Satin Bowerbird. It was eating bird seed at the time. It fought the rosellas off just to get the apple pieces, then flew off into the bushes to eat it. They'd rather have the skin removed from the apple though. I think I read somewhere that apple skin is toxic to a Satin Bowerbird. I can't recall now if that is correct or not, that's all I remember. I have tried them on red grapes too but I never got the chance to find out if they ate it or not because I didn't set up my camera. I hung a bunch of grapes low down on a tree branch. Three days later the grapes were all gone. I suspect the Torresian Crows and Pied Currawongs got to it first.
I did read that, naturally, male Satin Bowerbirds prefer to collect the blue coloured feathers of the Eastern Rosellas and yellow snail shells. But, I've put out blue Kilometrico pens lids and they've been taken by male Satin Bowerbirds. (I'm referring to the standard blue, red and black Kilometrico Bic pens here.) I done that this year and none were taken in July. I put them near the food too so the males could see them but they just weren't interested in the pen lids.
Whenever I see, on the side of the road, the aftermath of a bird kill and there's just feathers remaining I'll pick up all the feathers. Every single one of them I'll pick up. Then when birds start breeding in Spring I'll start adding feathers to my front garden enmasse. Any feathers left on the ground I'll pick up and store for next breeding season or add them to my own feather collection. So, try finding those blue Eastern Rosella feathers if you can. The birds moult feathers from time to time. Just a suggestion.
I'm at Tenterfield, NSW. (Formerly known as "Hyperbirds".)
I'd love to see a video of that if you could manage it. You've got me intrigued now.
I'm at Tenterfield, NSW. (Formerly known as "Hyperbirds".)