Weaving the bower by RobGeraghty, on Flickr

A male Satin Bowerbird at the Australian National Botanic Gardens weaving his bower. The bower is not a nest, but a display ground where he dances for any female that he can entice to visit. She builds a nest and raises the young without any help from this shiny blue playboy.

[nosliwmit]

Bower birds are fascinating. I've not yet seen any "in real life." Thanks for sharing!

[RobG]

Bower birds are fascinating. I've not yet seen any "in real life." Thanks for sharing!

Thank you! Back in the 80's I read an article in Scientific America where they distributed numbered blue pieces of glass evenly amongst the powers in an area, then counted the pieces in each bower - and confirmed that the birds were stealing from each other. The bird with the best collection wins!

[MikeNArk]

Interesting information about the bird. First image that I have seen of a bird with purple eyes. Nice detailed shot of the bird. Thanks for sharing.

[angkymac]

Interesting, the story!
Programmed to be an irresponsible fool.
And the females programmed to be over-responsible--and even worse fools!
And the image is interesting as well as the story.
Angky.

[RobG]

Interesting information about the bird. First image that I have seen of a bird with purple eyes. Nice detailed shot of the bird. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you! Their eyes are an amazing colour, aren't they?

Interesting, the story!
Programmed to be an irresponsible fool.
And the females programmed to be over-responsible--and even worse fools!
And the image is interesting as well as the story.

Looking from the perspective of the female, she gets to live her life without being tied to the same male, and mate with whoever takes her fancy, so there's advantages on both sides!