I was watching this Satin Bowerbird playing around his bower and collecting some blue toys (mostly milk bottle caps) over the past few weeks. On the 31st of October he allowed me to get close (the first 2 shots) and was very friendly when I brought some more blue toys for him.
On the 7th Nov (a week later) the whole bower was smashed flat - ground zero.
Was it an animal or the Homo sapiens?? The bower was just a few metres off a walking track but reasonably well-hidden.
How sad is that !! It looks too flat to have been done by an animal, even a dog wouldn't have flattened it like that. Someone would have walked over the top of the bower. There would be enough time for them to build a new one, hopefully somewhere away from the road. Good luck to them.
M-L
Nahar
I have noticed the same thing here, except the bower was well hidden and noperson would have flatened it here. I assumed that either he had finished with the bower and season over or another competing Male had destroyed it.
Matt
Sounds very interesting Matt.
M-L
I would be so happy to think it was a natural thing rather than human destruction - so that is how I will think of it.
Dianne
Childers QLD
Matt you could be right as we(Landcare team) have seen another male Satin bower bird trying to steel the blue objects from the bower. The owner of the bower did some kind of strange dance or walk over the walking track a number of times then kept chasing the stranger away for ages till the vistor just gave up. The Satin bower has used the same area now for two seasons; we have noticed he has also stayed in the area of the his bower all year round. I do not remember seeing the bower flaten at the end of the last breeding season. So much to learn; we are so gateful to people like Nahar for taking such beautiful photo's of the birds that now call our site home after many years of hard work/bush regeneration.
Sharon
Thanks for your input Sharon. Welcome to the forum. I am sure we will learn a lot from your experience of the flora and fauna of the Galgabba area.