The Great Bowerbird bowers around Broome don’t last forever despite their solid construction. We have extreme weather during our wet season with cyclonic winds and torrential rain. Sometimes the Great Bowerbirds just appear to want a slightly different location and move the items to a new bower. Several male birds will work together to build the perfect bower to attract females. The items gathered vary depending on the location and some Great Bowerbirds appear to be better at stealing than others!
You may remember the Great Bowerbird bower in Cygnet Park, which was under some dead vegetation. Well, now it has really fallen apart and they have abandoned it. This is the state of repair nowadays in the photos below and mostly the items they wanted have been relocated.
The bower in the post 2 years ago
The new bower is only a few metres away across a ditch, so the Great Bowerbirds are still in the same area. They continue to steal from the surrounding houses. There has obviously been some construction around nearby, because they are actively stealing nails. It would appear that somebody has left a large box of nails open and they have all been stealing them. I have no idea if the owner of the nails has any idea why his nails are going missing, but they may run out before the job is done! These Great Bowerbirds really do like nails and screws!
The header photo is the new Great Bowerbirds‘ bower and the photos below show the contents. It is amongst some quite dense bush, but the white items make it stand out. It is quite an achievement as always and the items around and in it continues to increase.
Great Bowerbird bower and stolen nails and screws
Of course there is always something interesting about bowers wherever they are, but especially amongst human habitation. It never ceases to amaze us the size of some of the items that they will carry.
Cygnet Park continues to be a good location for observing Olive-backed Orioles and many other bird species.
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