satin bowerbirds in backyard

Sightings within the local survey area for the period 1 Jun 2012 - 31 Aug 2012. The local survey area is a rectangular area extending from Kingsthorpe NW of Toowoomba to the Mt Whitestone/Fordsdale area SE of Helidon.
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Robert Ashdown
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Joined: Sun May 30, 2010 2:34 pm
Location: Toowoomba
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satin bowerbirds in backyard

Post by Robert Ashdown »

Two male and four female satin bowerbirds in our, and neighbours', backyards on Saturday 2 June 2012. Males seemed to be checking out the blue pegs on the neighbour's hills' hoist, while the females seemed to be eating what appeared to be fungi, or some kind of tubular vegetables.
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Mick Atzeni
Posts: 1843
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2005 9:08 pm

BBC would like to film the Satin Bowerbird

Post by Mick Atzeni »

Rob

Your posting is timely. The club has just had a request for help last Thursday from the BBC about filming Satin Bowerbird behaviour for a new documentary called Surivival. Here's the request:
I work for the BBC Natural History Unit in England. We are currently making a landmark wildlife series for the BBC called Survival. This series will be broadcast Worldwide and will hopefully be as far reaching as Planet Earth, Life and Frozen Planet were. One of the stories we are really keen to capture is that of the Satin bowerbird (SBB) juvenile males and are looking for field contacts, who may know of densely populated SBB areas. We would ideally like to come and film the Satins this year.

As far as my research has revealed, having spoken to Prof. Gerald Borgia (who runs a long-term study site in NE Queensland), the behaviour we are after is happening now and will continue until Sept/October time. We would like to find juvenile male practice bowers and film the construction and destruction of these, along with juvenile males visiting mature male bowers, where mutual learning takes place.

At the moment I have been searching the web for YouTube videos and bird groups to try and put the word out and find local contacts on the ground that can help feed information back to us. It would be great if you could help us pass the message on to see if anyone is seeing this behaviour going on in their back yard or know of a good site for this sort of thing. If you could mention what we would like to do at your local meeting or if we could feature in your current newsletter, I would be most grateful.

Look forward to hearing back from you.

Many thanks

Sophie


Sophie Lanfear

Survival

Tel: +44 (0)1179 742106
Mobile: +44 (0)789 123 1488
A3.1 NPC | BBC Natural History Unit | Broadcasting House | Bristol | BS8 2LR
Email: sophie.lanfear@bbc.co.uk

.://..bbc.co.uk


Cheers
Mick
Glenn McRae
Posts: 28
Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2010 9:02 am
Location: Stanthorpe, Qld

Post by Glenn McRae »

Hi Mick,

I remember seeing a Juvenile Male Satin Bower Bird displaying and calling at a practice bower behind the toilets at Bunya Mountains National Park.

This was approx. 2 years ago. I don't know if this is a regular display spot or not as I haven't been back there for a few years.

cheers
Glenn
It's a good day when you learn something new
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Mick Atzeni
Posts: 1843
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2005 9:08 pm

Active bower at my workplace

Post by Mick Atzeni »

Thanks for the info Glenn. Bunya Mts and other public places may be too problematic for filming purposes but will pass on the info.

Had a pleasant surprise when Des Ashcroft, a groundsman at work (DAFF; formerly DPI), dropped by my desk the other day to tell me he found an active bower in the garden on the SW corner of the westernmost building on the complex (at 203 Tor St Wilsonton). I checked it out yesterday and saw one black male, which flew off towards the houses on the northern side. Will keep an eye out for other males.

This the second bower Des has found on the complex, both in the last couple of years. It's great that Satin Bowerbirds are established on the western (drier) side of town.

Cheers
Mick
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