Fascinating Nature
Satin Bowerbirds
Bowerbirds are nature's designers. Some steal from their neighbours, one builds a hut with a mossy garden, and another plays a clever trick on the eye!
Did you know?
Male great bowerbirds play a trick on the eye! They place small objects near the bower and bigger ones farther away. When scientists mixed up the order, the birds put everything back within three days.
Male satin bowerbirds can be sneaky neighbours. They are known to steal decorations from each other's bowers, and sometimes they even wreck a rival's bower!
Scientists put tiny numbered rings on birds' legs to follow them for years. One ringed satin bowerbird lived in the wild for 26 years. That is a record for any ringed perching bird!
Try this: The Bowerbird Eye Trick
Find five objects of the same kind but different sizes, such as balls or toy cars. Line them up on the floor in a straight path, smallest nearest to you and biggest farthest away. Now crouch low at the near end and look along the line. Do the sizes look more alike? Swap the order and look again. This trick is called forced perspective.
Go further: A Hut with a Garden
The Vogelkop bowerbird of New Guinea builds a cone-shaped hut about 1 metre tall and 1.6 metres wide, with two sticks propping up the doorway. In front, the male clears a small lawn and covers it with soft moss. Then he arranges flowers, fruit, shiny beetle wings and other eye-catching things. Unlike the satin bowerbird, he has no favourite colour. He likes new and unusual finds best, and rare treasures often get stolen by neighbouring males!