Last week we had a bird that can dance. This week, how about one that’s mastered interior decoration and landscaping?

Ornithology – David Attenborough – “The Bowerbird”

I really, really love bowerbirds. Their display behavior is a fascinating example of sexual selection, and their capacity to make individual aesthetic choices raises intriguing philosophical questions. If I can dig up some documentation about the ability of some of them to actually manufacture paint from berries and roots and use it to ornament the interior of their bowers, I’ll post that, too, and explore some of those questions in more depth.

Tags: Birds, Saturday Birds