Posted 3 years ago
IronLace
(926 items)
Some of you may recall I posted photos last year of a bower bird's bower & collection of blue objects in my garden.
It's back again this year with a much more impressive collection of blue stuff plus a bigger & better - constructed bower. Maybe it's a different bird, or just older & more experienced in both collecting & construction. The bird is around often, large & a glossy blue - black.
In addition to the various bits of blue plastic, mostly bottle caps, there are also blue feathers, clothes pegs (one is purple, not in the photo) & leaves with white undersides (specifically displayed to show them off).
As I'm something of a bower bird myself, it inspired me to set up some groups of blue art glass, which I have a reasonable amount of in my collection, especially satin glass. Blue seemed to be a very popular colour for satin glass.
Photo 1 shows an assortment of blue Victorian art glass of various kinds, plus two strings of glass beads from the 1930s era.
Photo 2, more art glass plus a small glass pendant part from what I believe may have been a Neiger necklace - a cobalt blue King Tut head (this is posted especially for vintagelamp who recently posted a Neiger Brothers necklace).
Photos 3 & 4 show the bower & collection. Nice to have an enthusiasm for collecting represented both indoors & outdoors at my place!
I really like the theme of your post but it saddens me that so much of the bird's collection is plastic. What a shame it is no longer just feathers, flowers and berries... But - your collection of blue glass put the smile back on my face.
Why I never buy bottled water.
Must be great having a bird enhancing the garden. Mine just gets wrecked by the b*****y Pukeko's ripping all my plants out or pecking off the flowers.
Lovely vases!
I'm glad that my glass has put a positive spin on this issue for you, Wow22.
Interestingly, I was only reading an article the other day about a study into how Australian birds incorporate human - made materials into their nests. Of particular note was a magpie that had constructed a "punk rock" industrial style nest from wire coat hangers & a USB cable. For me, I look at this from a few perspectives (as is my usual approach)...that we are living in the so called Anthropocene age, & animals are adapting accordingly...& also that animals are just as smart & creative as we are supposed to be. They make do with what is around them, & find new uses for it. Is it good, bad, sad? All of the above! Life in all its forms is a strange & complex thing, beautiful & ugly in equal doses.
Last summer I was treated to the sight of a bower bird snipping off cornflowers for a collection not in my yard, so flowers are still in their sights...
Iron Lace,
Love your collection as well as your creativity! The way that you place your collection in a natural setting is wonderful! Thanks for including King Tut! Now I have to look up that bird...
Absolutely, Bambus1920, & also why I always dispose of my rubbish responsibly.
Living in a tourist area (not much anymore though thanks to Covid) the visitors tended to leave their rubbish everywhere...hasn't been so bad over the last 18 months...one slightly positive thing about this infernal pandemic...
LOL Bernard...we have our fair share of hassle from birds, too...the rosellas that snip off various flower heads & lorikeets that take one bite of out our apples & leave the rest...
Many thanks vintagelamp & I'm glad that you enjoyed my little Neiger fragment...I found it in with a lot of glass buttons many years ago...
What a beautiful and interesting post! Both the indoor and outdoor bowers are superb. We don’t have bower birds where I live but I’ve seen documentaries of the birds building their bowers and arranging/rearranging all their attractive elements…it’s fantastic that you have the same thing going on right there in your out yard!
Those lovely clear/white swirl beads remind me of ‘floating opals’…something I’ve loved to look at since early childhood. :-)
Much appreciated Patricia & so glad you enjoyed my post!
The bird is super busy all day long moving the items around & stamping about in the bower. It is a satin bower bird, the name very appropriate as it is the most wonderfully glossy black with a blue sheen...quite solidly built, too! All our local birds are looking well fed this year following heavy rains after the drought & fires in 2019. The female bower bird is green, & also enjoying the delights of the bower...as well as contributing white items to the collection.
I think a lot of glass collectors enjoy beads (even if they don't wear them) as they show off a wide variety glass - making techniques in a different form. The swirled beads also have some aventurine in them as well, & I think they're possibly from Venice. The bumpy dimpled ones are such a nice shade of powder blue, quite rarely seen in glass, & I think most likely from Czechoslovakia.
What a wonderful post! I love your glass collection of blues, and the connection you made to the Bower bird. I had heard of them, but never knew what their nests look like or what they like to collect. How wonderful to have one living in your garden!
I am happy to embrace the Anthroprocene age, but cannot agree there is any good in these wonderful birds being exposed to the dangers of plastic lids (and more particularly, the plastic rings). It is the reason one responsible Canberra milk company changed the colour of its lids from blue to black. I am not challenged to see beauty in refuse or discarded waste - I love to see it repurposed in a creative way - but not when it brings danger to wildlife. A debate for another time. :)
As I said, I love your glass.
Many thanks, Michelle, glad you've enjoyed the post!
Wow22, if my post offends or upsets your values, I kindly suggest that you look & comment elsewhere, as there are plenty of other folks posting stuff here. I myself have ceased interacting from time to time.
I hold deep concerns for the environment, but our governments & big corporations prefer the idea of business as usual.
Myself, I am a realistic, pragmatic person. I hope for better, but understand that doing better is generally not the preferred option for those in power & their various vested interests, ideological & financial...the shareholders wouldn't appreciate it much, would they, if their precious dividends took a hit, for starters?
Do you drive a car, eat meat, consume electricity or gas, have any plastic items in your home? Realistically speaking, we are all part of the problem.
I try to do my bit, but with the way things are going, changing the colour of bottle caps is not going to save the world, very sad but true.
All my life I've lived with depression & anxiety, so issues both personal & political (& they all intersect) have often made me feel that life wasn't worth living.
I try now to see the "silver lining", not in a naive way, but with a view to want to live another day, at least.
Gosh, it was never my intent that this be construed as an offensive comment. I'm sorry if you found it so. Sincerely.
you are doing your home like a bower bird nest.... I adore blue.... it is like having heaven near...