Artist: Bernard Long (biography)
Medium: Watercolour on Board
Size: 17" x 8" (420mm x 195mm)
Date: 1983

This is the unique original Watercolour painting by Bernard Long.

The MacGregor's bowerbird is a medium-sized olive brown bowerbird of New Guinea's mountain forests, roughly the size and shape of a robin. The male is adorned with an erectile orange yellow crest, that is partly hidden until shown in courtship display. The unadorned female is similar to the male, but without the crest.

Superb mimics, they are known for imitating other birds, pigs, rushing water, and even human speech. The polygamous male builds a tower-like "maypole-type" bower, with a central pole of twigs surrounded by a dish of moss with raised walls approximately 1 meter in diameter. He decorates the twigs of the maypole with flowers, fruits, insects and other objects.

A detailed and colourful watercolour painting from the publication Strange and Curious Creatures, written by Rupert Oliver and illustrated by Bernard Long. 1984.