Posted 5 years ago
IronLace
(928 items)
As promised, here's an update on the progress of the bower bird nest in my garden. The photo was taken this afternoon, & it's clear that our glossy, black feathered friend has made excellent use of the random blue things left around the yard. It has also added some bits of dark green twist tie (it's something that we use a lot, for tying plants & it seems to come with every plant you buy, holding the label to the plant, so as a result there's always bits of it about). The blue feather is a particularly nice touch...I'd seen that feather around for weeks & almost swept it up with some fallen leaves, but I ended up leaving it where it was...glad that I did because it evidently came in handy!
I did see the birds themselves around the nest today, but couldn't get a photo of them in situ...I'll keep on trying...
My yard attracts hummingbirds. They, as well, seem to like decorating their nests with blue bits.
Yeah! Good job, Mr Bird!
Marin, maybe you could sacrify some blue buttons or blue glass shards to his home decoration ;-)
He's doing a great job! I always have my blue pegs stolen.
I hope you get to see him dance around the bower for her.
Interesting to note, artfoot! And bees also like blue - they prefer to visit blue flowers above all others - so I see plenty around the lavender, salvias, delphiniums, & other blue blooms in the garden...
I'll see what I can do, Pascale, although I noticed today that the nest has been flattened & all the blue items moved around in a circle. It looks pretty weird now...
I hope so too, keramikos, though I'm not sure what to make of the destroyed - looking nest...I'll watch for further developments...
Karen, I agree...it would be rather special...tell me, did you see the nest get flattened after a couple of days, though? I'm not sure what to make of it! Success or failure?
Ooh, no! I hope it is not destroyed and abandoned!
:-/
Will follow...
No my boy's seem to last a few months but I did notice that the sides of the bower on yours seem a bit light on. Maybe it's a juvenile's bower and it hasn't been good enough or an older male has had a go at?
Just guessing :)
Keramikos & Karen, yes that seems to be the issue. The bowers are often vandalised by other males that are more dominant & aggressive (why oh why do we hope that animals could be nicer than humans...I wish it were so, but they're just as mean & nasty as humans...it's pretty depressing really) so that's most likely what has occurred.
However! I did see a male around today & it appeared that new work was perhaps in progress to rebuild (I didn't want to get too close & disturb anything, plus it was raining hard).
Here's an inspiring song for him - "I get knocked down, but I get up again...you're never gonna keep me down!"
I sure know how that feels... :-)
New photo added - taken today, showing what I think is an attempt at rebuilding the bower. Note that a yellow flower (which is from a dwarf dahlia in the front garden) has been added. Various items have been moved around.
Thanks for the update!! Hope all goes well!!
Stuff
Many thanks Stuff!
I'll keep on watching it & will post updates...