Our Gardens

Bob The Builder - Year Two

Last year I wrote of our resident Greater Bower Bird and his antics on our Kimberley block.

Bob is at it again. Only this time he has competition. A second Greater Bower Bird has built his bower less than 50 cm from Bob. The two bowers are 5 metres from our front verandah.

Bob tidied up and redecorated his existing bower, it faces north / south, however Ben has constructed his, using material stolen from Bob's, in an east /west direction. Ben has a lot to learn, building wise. Ben's bower is the scruffy pile of sticks on the right side of the photo.

The two bower birds spend much of the day building, wrecking, decorating, strutting, running through each others' bowers and thieving from each other.

Many "decorations" have been stolen from the shed. A bucket of reticulation fittings in the pump shed has been raided.

Whenever we required any building fittings, washers, nuts, bolts and sundry other bits, we in turn raid their bowers.

Over the past two weeks a female bower bird has been interested. She too has been strutting her stuff. Bob and Ben have been too interested in demolishing each others bowers and so have ignored her.

The female bower bird hormones must have been raging, in the end she gave up interest and a few days ago she was observed paying attention and strutting her stuff to a different male Greater Bower Bird who has a magnificent bower, beautifully decorated at the back corner of our block where I suspect tbe deed was done, she is no longer around and the third male bower bird is looking most pleased with himself.

The third bower and resident male we discovered two days ago when we were clearing the fire breaks. And so, smack bang in the middle of the block's perimeter fire break is a bower and two back hoe bucket runs on either side of it! God only knows what the Shire Ranger will say.