About The Superb Lyrebird Video

"See an unbeleivable bird mimic human sounds.. car alarms.. chainsaws.. cameras & all kinds of other birds!"

The lyrebird, which Sir David Attenborough meets on a log in a dense forest in Australia, is the bird world's best mimic. It can imitate 12 other birds. It does the whirring of a camera's motor drive and the click of a shutter. It repeats the engine of a car, and the din of a car alarm. It can even imitate the screech of the chainsaw wielded by the loggers coming to cut down its habitat.

The Superb Lyrebird video clip has been voted Britain's Favourite Naturalist moments. Remarkably, the talented lyrebird proved more popular than the legendary 1979 Rwanda Mountain Gorilla story. Sir David Attenborough discovered the very talented lyrebird while he was in Australia filming the 1998 series The Life Of Birds. The bird proceeded to perform an accurate imitation of a chainsaw, then gave a perfect rendition of the photographer's camera shutter and the crew's car engine and car alarm, as well as a dozen other bird impersonations.

Superb Lyrebird Menura novaehollandiae

Description

The Superb Lyrebird looks like a large brown pheasant... The wings are reddish brown in colour and the bill, legs and feet are black... The adult male has an ornate tail, with special curved feathers that, in display, assume the shape of a lyre (an ancient Greek stringed musical instrument)... Superb Lyrebirds measure 80 - 100 cm in length, with females smaller than males..with little power of flight.

The Superb Lyrebird's song consists of 80% expert mimicry, with both natural and mechanical sounds imitated and joined together in a rousing medley. Sounds can include anything heard in the bird's immediate surroundings, such as chainsaws, car engines, dog barks and local native birds. The Superb Lyrebird also emits a series of whistles and cackling notes that are used as territorial calls, as well as a loud alarm shriek.

The Superb Lyrebird occurs in the moist forests of the south-eastern Australian mainland and southern Tasmania. It is a ground-dwelling species, but roosts in trees at night. Birds are sedentary, rarely moving large distances and generally staying in a home-range about 10 km in diameter and feed on insects, spiders, worms and, occasionally, seeds.

Superb Lyrebirds breed in April to October each year The male secures a territory, attracting potential mates by singing and dancing on one of several mounds within it, while throwing the tail forward over the body and shaking it in display. The male will mate with several females. The female alone builds the nest, incubates the eggs and cares for the young...

..for more information and photos on this story visit the Australian Museum Online fact sheet.. http://www.amonline.net.au/factSheets/superb_lyrebird.htm

..and visit The Aviary.. http://aviary.owls.com/lyrebird/lyrebird.html and.. http://www.australianstamp.com/Coin-web/feature/nature/lyrebird.htm

The vocal ability of birds has inspired PBS Life Of Birds

Imitating or mimicking the calls of other species is one way that birds can be more attractive to mates. They can also vary the order, sequence or repetition of phrases to sound more variable. The most renowned vocal mimics in the bird world include mockingbirds, starlings, mynahs, marsh warbler, lyrebirds, bowerbirds, scrub-birds and African robin-chats. Starlings in the Shetland islands in Scotland have been known to mimic sheep; in Oxford, England, they mimic buses. The lyrebird, which Sir David Attenborough meets on a log in a dense forest in Australia, is the bird world's best mimic. It can imitate 12 other birds. It does the whirring of a camera's motor drive and the click of a shutter. It repeats the engine of a car, and the din of a car alarm. It can even imitate the screech of the chainsaw wielded by the loggers coming to cut down its habitat.

The Superb Lyrebird is thought to have the loudest bird call in the world. The bittern is not far behind. Its loud, booming call is one of the farthest travelling of all bird songs. It calls relentlessly both day and night from deep within the reed bed, hoping to attract a female into his territory.

The vocal skill of birds derive from the unusual structure of their powerful vocal equipment. The syrinx is the sound-producing organ in birds. It is the equivalent of the human sound box. The syrinx contains membranes which vibrate and generate sound waves when air from the lungs is passed over them. The muscles of the syrinx control the details of song production; birds with more elaborate system of vocal muscles produce more complex songs..

..Birds became the world's master musicians in order to convey to potential mates, rivals and predators all the important things they have to say, from "Clear off!" to "Come on!"

..for more on this story and photos visit: http://www.pbs.org/lifeofbirds/songs/index.html

Did You Know?

The Superb Lyrebird is displayed on the Australian 10 cent coin

See coins here: http://www.australianstamp.com/Coin-web/aust/tencent/tencent.htm