If you ever need a big dose of delight and wonder, watch David Attenborough’s 4 minute beauty of a video about the bower bird of New Guinea, who creates astonishingly-decorated homes using careful arrangements of orchids, tree ferns, moss, the shiny wing covers of beetles, orange fruits, glowing red leaves, acorns, black fruits…with a clear sense of aesthetics!
It reminds me of the way kids create fantastical houses out of whatever they find. Only a bird did it….(At least one leading naturalist of the 19 century thought the bower birds little homes were made by a race of pygmies.)
You’ll find a more in-depth look at the bower birds on disk two of “Attenborough in Paradise and Other Personal Voyages“, a compilation of seven of the naturalist’s most engaging hour-long programs. His other numerous videos are worth checking out (and owning) as well.