These colourful birds were created by taping a polystyrene ball to a pine cone and then doing papier mache over the
whole shape to create the body and head of a bird.

I checked on the internet and found that the plant is called a Parry’s Agave, very similar to an Aloe Vera
plant. After flowering, the whole plant dies. These tree-like supports for our birds are what was left of the flower
stalks when the plant died.

We glued cardboard wings and tail on as well and covered the whole thing with coloured tissue. The final touches
were the beak, eyes and feet.

On the beach at Portsea, I found these marvellous tree-like shapes which were perfect for the birds to nest in for
display.

Dot Browne
Visual Art Teacher 
Rangeview Primary School