The Great Bowerbird

We are visiting some of our family, who live in Townsville.

Their front yard, in an inner suburb of Townsville, has a lot of trees and bushes in it, and there among the plants is a bower.

The decorations are predominantly white, but look carefully and see pieces of red, and of green.

 
 It is an intricate piece of avian architecture.
It was built, and is maintained, by the Great Bowerbird....Chlamydera nuchalis.

The bower is about 50 cms long, and 40 cms high.
It consists of a stage, (where the male will dance for the female), and two walls of sticks.
The sticks are bent and woven into the wall shape.
Amazing stuff!

You can see the "stage" at the far end of the bower...made with white stones and shells.

This species of bowerbird can build large bowers, up to 50 cms high, and 1 metre long!

Typical of the species, the bower is decorated with predominately white stones and shells, with some pieces of green and red, and shiny objects.
For added "bling" it has added pieces of Alfoil, which shine, and a few plastic pieces.
It also occasionally adds a touch of red or green.
Ripe cherry tomatoes are the preferred choice for red!
Green berries, and other pieces of green vegetation also decorate the bower.
This bird has worked hard to make its bower attractive for the females.

The Great Bowerbird, with a Calistemon flower obstructing its eye!

Another shot of the bird, this time without flowers, but still parts being obstructed with foliage!

These Bowerbirds are found across the top Northern Australia, from the Kimberley region in Western Australia to Townsville, on the eastern coast of Queensland.

They are quite large birds...over 30 cm long.
Their colour is predominantly brown, but this one had a pink patch on the back of its neck.(not visible in these two photos)
I thought that maybe it had been in a pecking order fight with another male bowerbird, and had had its feathers pecked off, (which does happen) but no.....it was displaying to me, and calling loudly because it did not like me near its bower! 
Hence the pink "display patch"

When it began to build this bower, I have been told, another male attempted to oust it from the territory.
How?
"Our" bird would start construction of its bower, then the second male would come in and pull out the sticks of the walls!!
This went on for about a week, before bird number two flew elsewhere!

I have seen the Satin Bowerbird bowers in my area of Queensland (the Granite Belt), but never a bower in a suburban backyard!
This one in my son and daughter-in-law's yard does not even mind sharing the yard with a dog!
This has been a bonus for us....we feel, in a very small way, like David Attenborough!!

The end-of Winter Burn-off.

Just look at this grass. Dry. Brown. Tall.(well, waist high)

You can understand that the bushfire threat is high this summer, and that, in our state, Queensland, land-owners are encouraged to burn off their excess fuel before summer starts.

Protocols must be followed.
A fire permit, issued by the local fire warden, is given.
Burn-offs must not begin before 4pm, and wind speeds must be less than 10 knots.
Safety measures must be in place in case an emergency arises.

BEFORE:  Future bushfire fuel, unless burnt out now.

AFTER:  the long, dry grass has gone. Summer fire risk reduced.

Last week conditions were right. Last week we did our burn-offs.

We had long grass on the "bottom" block, and the fires there were very different from those on the "top" block, where our grapes grow.

Our bottom block does not have any grape vines on it.
We burnt off the two blocks on two afternoons.


The Bottom Block Burn-Off.

 

Starting the fires for the burn-off.

The flames take off.

..and burn well....

...but you must be ready to extinguish any stray flames.

A truck ready for any emergencies when burning off.

This specially equipped truck belongs to one of our neighbouring farmers.

It has a water tank, and long hose, as you can see, plus a generator, and galvanised iron buckets.

We needed such equipment when the scrubby bottom block was burnt.  Equipment "just in case"

The Top Block Burn-Off

Burning off on the top block...between the vines and the road.

A tractor, with a water tank behind, ready, if needed.

...plus a wet hessian sack to beat out wayward flames.

The "top block" did not have as much dried grass  (i.e. less fuel) as the bottom block, so the truck was not necessary.  This time water was carried in a water tank, behind the tractor.

You can tell from the photos that the fire was not nearly as fierce as the fires on the bottom block.

The weekend following our burn-offs, many other farmers were also doing their bit to reduce the possibility of Summer bushfires.  This photo is taken looking across our vineyard towards the hills of the next valley. You can see the smoke from the burn-off fires there.

Burning off in the next valley to us.

10 years ago fierce bushfires raged through the valley shown, and one person lost their life. So we are all aware of the importance of taking the necessary precautions.

We all hope for a quieter summer, re bushfires.