love nest
April 1st, 2008
Margot and I have been working on making a nest for an art proposal. She has been feeling the nest planting them across the country. I think she told me about the bower bird 8 years ago. I just saw a picture of it for the first time this year & fell in love with it not realizing until recently that it is the same bird.
“The male bower bird of New Guinea and Australia creates elaborate nests during breeding season to attract a mate. These nests serve only as areas for courtship display and are used and improved for several years. The bower bird chooses an open site among the trees, and sweeps it clear of leaves. The bird then builds the structure (bower) from carefully chosen twigs that he sticks firmly in the ground. The enclosures’ shapes differ by species. For example, the gardener bower bird builds circular hut like bowers, often around the trunk of a small tree. The bowers floor is decorated with brightly colored flowers and fruit.
Another species builds an open topped structure made from two rows of twigs three feet long and six inches wide. The whole area is decorated with such objects as bleached bones, feathers, shells, fruits, and petals. Some birds even paint their bowers with the juice of berries. The male bower bird entices a female to his completed structure and dances before her, displaying himself and the objects he has collected. After mating, the female builds herself a separate nest for her eggs.” from ladywildlife
3 Comments
Add your own1. broc | April 2nd, 2008 at 10:25 pm
The Blue Booby
by James Tate
The blue booby lives
on the bare rocks
of Galapagos
and fears nothing.
It is a simple life:
they live on fish,
and there are few predators.
Also, the males do not
make fools of themselves
chasing after the young
ladies. Rather,
they gather the blue
objects of the world
and construct from them
a nest—an occasional
Gaulois package,
a string of beads,
a piece of cloth from
a sailor’s suit. This
replaces the need for
dazzling plumage;
in fact, in the past
fifty million years
the male has grown
considerably duller,
nor can he sing well.
The female, though,
asks little of him—
the blue satisfies her
completely, has
a magical effect
on her. When she returns
from her day of
gossip and shopping,
she sees he has found her
a new shred of blue foil:
for this she rewards him
with her dark body,
the stars turn slowly
in the blue foil beside them
like the eyes of a mild savior.
2. Dez | May 13th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Radiolab segment on the brain workings of Chickadees. Apparently in the fall they hide nuts in over a thousand different places… and then have to remember where those places are come winter. Skip to 20:06, or listen to the whole show.
3. admin | May 14th, 2008 at 9:59 am
what a great radio segment!! I heart radiolab.
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