Australia is home to ten species of bowerbird and I saw half of them.

Bowerbirds themselves are a beautiful and varied group of birds. What makes them well known around the world is the bowers that the males build to attract females. And we thought humans are the only artists on the planet.

All the bower designs are different depending on species and each female of the species seems to be attracted to different colors. For instance, female satin bowers birds prefer blue while great bowerbirds go for white and light gray.

Once the bower had been constructed, the male finishes the bower off with decorations purloined, or foraged, by the male. Many of the decorations are human made plastics.

I was able to see and sketch two bowers on my Australian trip. Bowers constructed by the male golden and great bowerbirds.

I was in Australia during their winter and so it was out of breeding season but some bowers remain standing year round.

One such bower was in a cemetery and our guide showed us the bower of the great bowerbird.

I did a spread about the bower and the bird that created it (featured sketch).

Our next bower was in the rain forests of north Queensland at an elevation above 2,000 feet.

We hiked up a short way to the bower. But we also wanted to see the male that the bower belonged to. This required waiting.

This is a where being a sketcher has its advantages. Waiting means, “Time for a sketch!”

I sketched the impressive bower that was constructed of two tall towers. In the off season, the bower was a work in progress with one tower being about five feet high and the other was under construction. Between the towers was the “stage” lined in green moss.

Now we had to wait for Australia’s smallest and most sought after bowerbird.

After about 15 minutes, I saw a flash of gold cross from left to right which caused me to write a haiku:

A bower waiting

Flash of gold across the bow 

Leaves us wanting more

The bower bird flew into a tree out of view, in this case the North Queensland endemic golden bowerbird.

In the darkness under the rainforest canopy I realized another benefit of field sketching, you don’t need a lot of light to sketch but as my shifty photos of the bowerbird proves, you need light to paint with light.

After another wait, the male bowerbird returned to his bower with some green moss to cover his stage. The group all got great looks at this most sought after Queensland endemic.