aussiebirder

Last week I featured some of the new seasons bird babies. Today’s post features some more we saw on our walk through the Nasho a few days ago. Firstly, the feature bird was this juvenile Satin Bowerbird. we captured in a tree As with most juvenile birds, the plumage resembles that of the mother bird and is usually dull brown, a provision of Intelligent Design by our Creator to help conceal and protect the young bird in the nest and in the dark of the tree canopy. The mature colours of the male will not begin to immerge till several years with full male plumage and breeding maturity taking 4 to 6 years. Click on image to enlarge it.

During its teenage years the male bird will be naturally inclined to learning to build a bower, which can be quite humorous to watch. It is a skill to be mastered, as is the courting dance and song repertoire, similar to the male Lyrebird. During Spring and Summer the male becomes a mating machine with any and every female Bowerbird that remains in his bower and approves his performance. The female will be entirely responsible for nesting and raising chicks. You can learn more about Satin Bowerbirds and what practical life lessons we can learn from them from my books “What Birds Teach Us” and “Flight of a Fledgling”. Click on image below to learn more.

On the grass field by the river in front of the park cafe we saw the juvenile Masked Lapwing grazing. The adult was now allowing them to forage further from his view as they grow larger.

on the same field near the Lapwing were these two juvenile Australasian Swamphen learning to graze with parent nearby. Note the new beginnings of adult blue plumage forming on their bodies.

Meanwhile back in the courtyard of our backyard I watched this Noisy Miner extract nectar from my wife’s Agapanthus flowers. We were wondering why we would find them drooping to the ground, and now all was revealed. I caught the rascal feeding as it climbed onto the flower and poked its beak into each flower. It realised that if it caused the flower to droop it was much easier to work it. Later when it left I was able to carefully return the flower stem to an almost upright position so it could repeat the process the next day. After all, Noisy Miners are classified as honeyeaters.

May you each enjoy a happy and holy Christmas celebration with family and friends.

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Adv. Dip. in Counselling and Family Therapy.

Member of Birdlife Australia

To introduce people to our unique Australian birds,

And learn from them how to live a healthy and happy life.

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