ABOUT AUTHOR

EXTRACTS

MAKE FRIENDS WITH GUSSIE

COSTA CLIP

VIDEO CLIP

BBC INTERVIEW

REVIEWS

EVENTS

THE REAL BOWER BIRD

BOOK GROUP NOTES

THE BURYING BEETLE

BUY

LUATH HOME

'I would love to see an Australian Bower Bird. They all collect objects to decorate their nests, a bit like Mum collecting old lace tablecloths and linen pillowcases, to make the house look beautiful. Bower Birds do it to attract a mate.

I collect feathers and shells and old nests and driftwood – natural objects to decorate my room. Am I doing it to attract a mate?

Satin Bowerbird - adult male is glossy blue-black, with splendid lilac blue eyes. Fem. and immatures are dull green above and finely barred below. The Satin’s bower is a short avenue of twigs, 30 cm high, oriented north-south, on a platform of woven twigs. It is painted with a mixture of saliva and chewed plants, sometimes applied with a stick as paintbrush. The platform may be covered with yellow leaves or straw and the colour blue is favoured for the ornaments placed on it.

Male Satin Bowerbirds tear down bowers and steal ornaments of next  door neighbours.

Bowerbirds mimic other bird species and various noises in their displays. One Great Bowerbird whose nest was near a building site mimicked construction noises.'

from The Bower Bird