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Lyrebirds |
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Scientific classification |
| Kingdom: |
Animalia
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| Phylum: |
Chordata
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| Class: |
Aves
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| Order: |
Passeriformes
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| Family: |
Menuridae
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| Genus: |
Menura
Latham, 1802 |
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|
Species |
Menura novaehollandiae
Menura alberti
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A Lyrebird is either of two
species of ground-dwelling
Australian
birds, most notable for their extraordinary ability to
mimic natural and artificial sounds from their
environment. They are the:
-
Superb Lyrebird or Weringerong (Menura
novaehollandiae) is found in areas of wet forest in
Victoria and New South Wales, and in Tasmania where it
was introduced in the 19th Century. Females are 74-84cm
long, and the males are a larger 80-98cm long — making
them the third-largest passerine bird after the
Thick-billed Raven and the Common Raven. Many Superb
Lyrebirds live in the Dandenong Ranges National Park and
Kinglake National Park around Melbourne, and in several other parks along the east
coast of Australia.
-
Albert's Lyrebird (Menura alberti) is
slightly smaller at a maximum of 90 cm (male) and 84 cm
(female) (around 30-35 inches) and is only found in a
very small area of Southern Queensland rainforest. They
have smaller, less spectacular lyrate feathers than the
Superb Lyrebird, but are otherwise similar. Albert's
Lyrebird was named in honour of Prince Albert, the
husband of Queen Victoria.
Lyrebirds are among Australia's best-known native birds,
even though they are rarely seen in their natural habitat.
As well as their extraordinary mimicking ability, lyrebirds
are notable because of the striking beauty of the male
bird's huge tail when it is fanned out in display; and also
because of their courtship display.
The lyrebird is an ancient Australian animal. The
Australian Museum has fossils of lyrebirds dating back
to about 15 million years ago.
[1]
Mimicry
A lyrebird's call is a rich mixture of its own song and
any number of other sounds it has heard. The lyrebird's
syrinx is the most complexly-muscled of the
Passerines (songbirds), giving the lyrebird
extraordinary ability, unmatched in vocal repertoire and
mimicry. Lyrebirds render with great fidelity the individual
songs of other birds and the chatter of flocks of birds, and
also mimic other animals, human noises, machinery of all
kinds, explosions and musical instruments. The lyrebird is
capable of imitating almost any sound — from a mill whistle
to a cross-cut saw, and, not uncommonly, sounds as diverse
as chainsaws [2], car engines and alarms, rifle-shots,
camera shutters,
dogs
barking and crying babies. Lyrebirds are shy birds and a
constant stream of bird calls coming from one place is often
the only way of identifying them and their presence. The
female lyrebird is also an excellent mimic, but she is not
heard as often as the male lyrebird
[3]
[4]
[5]
One researcher, Sydney Curtis, has recorded flute-like
lyrebird calls in the vicinity of the New England National
Park. Similarly, in 1969, a park ranger, Neville Fenton,
recorded a lyrebird song, which resembled flute sounds, in
the New England National Park, near Dorrigo in northern
coastal New South Wales. After much detective work by
Fenton, it was discovered that in the 1930's, a flute player
living on a farm adjoining the park used to play tunes near
his pet lyrebird. The lyrebird adopted the tunes into his
repertoire, and retained them after release into the park.
Neville Fenton forwarded a tape of his recording to Norman
Robinson. Because a lyrebird is able to carry two tunes at
the same time, Robinson filtered out one of the tunes and
put it on the phonograph for the purposes of analysis. The
song represents a modified version of two popular tunes in
the 1930's: "The Keel Row" and "Mosquito's Dance".
Musicologist David Rothenberg has endorsed this information.
[6]
[7]
[8]
An anecdotal example
A Lyrebird's tale
During the early 1930s, a male lyrebird, called "James",
formed a close bond of friendship with a human being, Mrs.
Wilkinson, after she had been offering food to him over a
period of time. James would perform his
courtship dance for her on one of his mounds which he
had constructed in her backyard — and he would also put on
his display for a wider audience, but only when Mrs.
Wilkinson was one of those present. On one such occasion,
James' performance lasted for forty-three minutes, and
included steps to a courtship dance accompanied by his own
tune — and also included imitating perfectly the calls of a
Magpie, and a young magpie being fed by a parent-bird, a
Whipbird, a
Bellbird, a complete laughing-song of a Kookaburra, two
Kookaburras laughing in unison, a Black Cockatoo, a
Gang-gang Cockatoo, an Eastern Rosella, a Pied Butcherbird,
a Wattle-bird, a Grey Shrike-thrush, a Thornbill, a
Scrubwren, a Striated Pardalote, a Starling, a Yellow Robin,
a Golden Whistler, a flock of parrots whistling in flight,
the Crimson Rosella, several other birds whose notes his
audience were not able to identify, and the song of
honey-eaters (tiny birds with tiny voices), that gather in
numbers and "cheep" and twitter in a multitudinous sweet
whispering. In order to mimic the honeyeaters' singing
faithfully, James was obliged to subdue his powerful voice
to the faintest pianissimo, but he contrived,
nevertheless, to make each individual note of the soft
chorus audibly distinct. Also included in James' performance
was his perfect mimicry of the sounds made by a rock-crusher
at work, a hydraulic ram, and the tooting of motor-horns.
[9]
Lifestyle and classification
Male lyrebirds call mostly during winter, when they
construct and maintain an open arena-mound in dense
bush, on which they sing and dance in courtship, to display
to potential mates, of which the male lyrebird has several.
Females build an untidy nest usually low to the ground in a
moist gully where she lays a single egg, and she is the sole
parent who incubates the egg over 50 days until it hatches,
and she is also the sole carer of the lyrebird chick.
Lyrebirds feed on
insects, spiders, earthworms and, occasionally, seeds. They
find food by scratching with their feet through the
leaf-litter. When in danger, lyrebirds run, rather than fly,
being awkward in flight, and have also been seen to take
refuge in wombat burrows. Another instance was when
firefighters, sheltering in a mine shaft during a bushfire, were joined by several lyrebirds.
[10]
The classification of lyrebirds has been much debated.
They were briefly thought to be
Galliformes like the broadly similar looking
partridge,
junglefowl, and
pheasants that Europeans were familiar with, but since
then have usually been classified in a family of their own,
Menuridae, which contains a single genus,
Menura.
It is generally accepted that the lyrebird family is most
closely related to the
scrub-birds (Atrichornithidae) and some authorities combine both in a single family, but
evidence that they are also related to the
bowerbirds remains controversial.
Lyrebirds are not endangered in the short to medium term.
Albert's Lyrebird has a very restricted habitat but appears
to be secure within it so long as the habitat remains
intact, while the Superb Lyrebird, once seriously threatened
by habitat destruction, is now classified as common. Even
so, lyrebirds are vulnerable to
cats
and
foxes, and it remains to be seen if habitat protection
schemes will stand up to increased human population
pressure.
Lyrebirds as emblems
Superb Lyrebird on the Australian 10 cent coin
The lyrebird has been featured as a symbol and emblem
many times, especially in
New South Wales and Victoria (where the Superb Lyrebird has
its natural habitat) – and in Queensland (where Albert's Lyrebird has its natural
habitat).
- A male Superb Lyrebird is featured on the
reverse of the Australian 10 cent coin.
[1]
- A silhouette of a male Superb Lyrebird is the logo
of the
Australian Film Commission
- An illustration of a male Superb Lyrebird, in
courtship display, is the emblem of the
New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service
- The pattern on the curtains of the
Victorian State Theatre is the image of a male
Superb Lyrebird, in courtship display, as viewed from
the front.
- A stylized illustration of a male Albert's Lyrebird
is the logo of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music,
now part of Griffith University. In the logo, the top
part of the lyrebird's tail becomes a music stave.
- A stylized illustration of part of a male Superb
Lyrebird's tail is the logo for the
Lyrebird Arts Council of Victoria.
- There are many other companies with the name of Lyrebird, and these also have lyrebird logos.
Painting by John Gould
John Gould's early 1800s painting of a Superb
Lyrebird specimen at the British Museum
The lyrebird is so called because the male bird has a
spectacular tail (consisting of 16 highly modified
feathers (two long slender lyrates at the centre
of the plume, two broader medians on the outside
edges and twelve filamentaries arrayed between them),
which was originally thought to resemble a
lyre. This happened when a lyrebird specimen (which had been
taken from Australia to England during the early 1800's) was
prepared for display at the British Museum by a taxidermist
who had never seen a live lyrebird. The taxidermist
mistakenly thought that the tail would resemble a lyre, and
that the tail would be held in a similar way to that of a
peacock during courtship display, and so he arranged the
feathers in this way. Later, John Gould (who had also never seen a live lyrebird),
painted the lyrebird from the British Museum specimen.
Although very beautiful, the male lyrebird's tail is not
as in John Gould's painting, nor is the tail held in such a
manner. Instead, the male lyrebird's tail is fanned over the
lyrebird during courtship display, with the tail completely
covering his head and back — as can be seen on an Australian
10 cent coin (above), where the Lyrebird's tail (in
courtship display) is portrayed accurately.
References
- ^ -
Lyrebird: Overview - Pulse of the Planet
- ^
The nation's favourite David Attenborough moment - Daily
Mail article
- ^ -
"passeriform" article, Encyclopædia Britannica Online,
2005.
- ^ -
Reader's Digest - Complete Book of Australian Birds,
1976.
- ^ -Favourite
Australian Birds, Bay Books, 1998.
- ^ -
Lyrebird Recordings by Sydney Curtis - includes
reference to the flute lyrebird story, and a link to a
recording.
- ^ -
In conversation with David Rothenberg -
NewMusicBox interview including flute lyrebird
story.
- ^ -
The Lyrebird - A Natural History, by Pauline
Reilly, New South Wales University Press, 1988.
- ^ -
The Lore of the Lyrebird, by Ambrose Pratt, the
Endeavour Press, 1933.
- ^ -
Amazing Facts about Australian Birds, by Steve
Parish, Steve Parish Publishing, 1997.
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