A colleague posted on 14 July: ‘… saw four juvenile satin bower birds opposite our house in Aireys this morning …’. I had in mind that bowerbirds are more prevalent locally in the warmer months. But I checked the statistics on eBird and this is incorrect: Satin Bowerbirds are seen on the Surf Coast at all times of the year, and are around twice as prevalent in July to December as in January to June.
Satin Bower Bird – Female (photo by Marg Lacey)
Adult males and females have completely different colouring (called sexual dichromatism) and you have probably seen many more females than males.
Satin Bower Bird – Male (photo by Marg Lacey)
This is because immature males look like females, and only go satin after five-to-seven years! Also, adult males are busy working on their bowers out of sight and out of the way. And here, perhaps, is an immature male, noting the pale bill and some emerging (?) dark patches.
Satin Bower Bird – Immature Male (photo by Rob Shepherd)
James Orton
