Trail: Bowerbird Falls Loop (Challenging 5.5km, 120mins, 120m ascent)

Recently, during the day, flocks of up to 60 female bower birds have arrived at my farm below the Tallaganda Wilderness to hunt for insects in the pasture. But there have been no males. The females (and immature birds) have an elaborate green olive patterned plumage while the make is a black blue gloss.

 

The males create elaborate bowers, decorated with shiny things, to attract the females – and they dance in the bowers. But, as a rule, they do not build bowers close to human habitation. I have never found a bower, until this week, when I stumbled across dozens.

We were doing a trail recce for orchid time, from highland creek to creek bubbling with lots of small falls, when suddenly we realized that Bowerbirds were all around us. They paused decorating and practicing dances and looked at us from their porches, all shining blue-black. It appears that timber that fell during the firestorm in the wilderness has been piled on either side of old access tracks. The bowerbird males have claimed these as ideal dance areas. We decided not to disturb the birds, which appeared quiet curious about our appearance, but this may be a good place to find orchids and observe dance when the weather warms.

 

 

 

 

 

Mapping

Challenging 5.5km return , 120mins, 120m ascent

The trail trace can be found on Gaia. This trail starts at a ford over the Yandyguinula on the Palerang Fire Trail, and follows a unmaintained walking track that will eventually intersect with old logging trails, and eventually return you to Palerang Fire Trail, and a gentle slope back down to the start point. The path crosses a number of small creeks and cascades/waterfalls.

Return to Tallaganda Resource page