More Aussie Shots

This is the nest of a Satin Bowerbird...right by the side of the road at O'Reilly's. Blow the pic up to get a better look. The male bowerbird builds this contraption and also forages for and deposits all kinds of trinkets around it...favoring blue objects since the bird is navy blue. Once the nest is finished, the bird spends hours and hours dancing around the nest and squawking, trying to attract females. If a female is interested enough to enter his bower, this is the equivalent of crossing the threshold; the male mates with her...(takes about two seconds...talk about wham bam!) and the female then flys off and that's the end of it...she more sensibly builds a nest in a tree to hatch her young 'uns.

My mate is a King Parrot! The birds at O'Reillys are used to people, to say the least. However, if you want them to be your friends long term, you have to come up with some tucker!

The rainforest around O'Reilly's is lush, receiving 60-100 inches of rain a year. Massive old trees tower above the bush. They are frequently beset with strangler figs, which begin growing far up in the tree, then descend over the years, eventually reaching the ground. In time the figs may do in their host tree while becoming sufficiently thick and stout to replace it entirely.