There are scores of very interesting animals and birds in our world. Now, we will present the bird we find the most interesting of all – the bird being none other than the Satin Bowerbird.
The Satin Bowerbird’s body length is about 30-35 centimeters, and it weighs about 150-160 grams. The two sexes are different in color: the males have bluish black plumage, whereas the females’ back is dark brown and their chest is a spotted lighter brown shade.
This non-migratory bird species lives exclusively in forest areas in two Eastern regions of Australia, between Queensland and Victoria.
The most typical attribute of the Satin Bowerbird is that the male builds a trellis during the mating period, and, to please the female, he collects all sorts of blue things underneath the trellis, blue being these birds’ favorite color.
Such a trellis is a very attractive contraption; it is made of two parallel walls consisting of twigs and grasses. The blue objects are placed around the entrance, and they can be of both natural origin, such as feathers and berries, or, nowadays, manmade objects, such as plastic and pottery scraps.
The male crushes blue berries with his beak, and paints the walls of the trellis. These trellises are so complex and showy that the first European explorers found it difficult to believe that they were erected by birds.
The male needs to protect his trellis from other males. Every male tries to attract as many females as possible, but the trellis is never used as a nest afterwards.
Instead, the female uses twigs to build her own nest, and she lines it with leaves. She hatches two eggs on her own in 20-23 days, and then it also remains her sole responsibility to rear the chicks.