Wild Bird Wednesday 725 - Superb Lyrebird

While walking in the Cathedral Ranges last week I was lucky enough to see - but mainly hear - at least 8 Superb Lyrebirds (Menura novaehollandiae).

The Superb Lyrebird is one of the world's largest songbirds and is very well known for their ability to mimic the calls of a wide range of other bird species.  These calls form part of their courtship routines that also involve the use of their long tails in elaborate courtship displays. In fact, in some places Lyrebirds will also integrate sounds of human origin into their displays. 

I was in 'hiker' rather than photographer mode on these walks, but I was able to record the song of a displaying male bird.  The following two videos are more for listening too than watching, and remember what you can hear here is being produced by a single male bird. The bird making all the sounds is just past the end of the log in the first video.  I could only just see it in the field, and I'm not sure he is really visible in the videos.  

These pictures were not taken on the walk, but show what a Superb Lyrebird looks like - sort of like cross between a chicken and pheasant!

As ever, to join in with WBW click the link below.  Cheers SM

PS: I'm not 100% sure these videos will work!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter