aussiebirder

Australia is blessed with some of the world’s best mimicry birds. Many of our endemic birds have the ability to mimic and understand the language of other bird species that share habitat in their territories. Should one visit the rainforests in the National Parks along the east coast of NSW and Victoria, Australia, they may be surprised to hear flowing repertoires of multiple bird sounds perfectly enunciated loudly sounding through the forest, with interspersed beat like sounds, like the backing to rap music. This is courting repertoire of the Superb Lyrebird, one of the world’s most accomplished mimics second only to its much less common cousin the Albert’s Lyrebird found only in the dense mountain rainforests of southern Queensland.

Lyrebirds get their name from the beautiful tail which resembles the musical instrument the Lyre. The male throws this beautiful tail over its head and shakes it as it presents its practiced repertoire string of birds calls of the many species of birds it has heard, often including intermittent periods of dancing to its own beat. Sometimes the sounds of engines including chainsaws and even camera shutters may be included. They can even imitate a flock of birds calling, The courting dances occur early autumn as nesting occurs during the winter months and is entirely the task of the female. All the male does is perform and mate. It spends its teenage years practicing its dance and putting together its song repertoire. Here is an example of a young male practicing.

The idea of the male’s performance is to impress the female so she will stay long enough to give her approval for him to mate with her. This process, similar to that of the Bowerbird courting ritual, is a way of selecting the best gene pool for the next generation. Males who are sloppy or lazy, and are not well practiced may not get many callers. Here is a male practicing to dance to his own beat. Lyrebirds are perfect mimics and catch every detail of the sounds they hear. Their ability to reproduce them with great accuracy is another marvel of their species and Intelligent Design by their Awesome Creator.

Here is a full on performance of a Superb Lyrebird male I witnessed one day. It was quite a surprise.

The female lyrebirds have less attractive tales with plain feathers, though they can do mimicry also is they wish. Juvenile Lyrebirds resemble the female and have a distinct orange colouring on their upper neck. Note the

Lyrebirds are rainforest floor feeders and scratch around for worms, grubs, insects and forests fruits that may have fallen. It has been shown in recent research that forests which have Lyrebirds have almost 33% less chance of sustaining a major bushfire. This is due to their digging and foraging activity as they turn over the moist leaf litter on the forest floor. Lyrebird seldom fly and flying is awkward, similar to Pea fowl, the extra long tail feathers mean it tends to fly low, always remaining in the cover of the rainforest. Here is an example of its repertoire, the cicadas join in at the end.

Superb Lyrebird practicing its mimicry

If you want to see Superb Lyrebirds they are residents of the Royal NP where we frequently visit and post. However, the best place to observe the rarer Albert’s Lyrebird is at O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat in Canungra QUE in the Lamington Mt NP. This bird was named by English ornithologist John Gould in 1850 in honour of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband. I have an add for O’Reilly’s Resort in my side widgets. It is also a place where many of my books are sold. here is an Albert’s Lyrebird foraging near O’Reilly’s guesthouse building.

The Superb Lyrebird is featured in my beautiful bird book “What Birds Teach Us” which can be purchased here online posted to your address. This unique book not only teaches facts about our Australian birds and their unique characteristics but also teaches life lessons that can be learnt from them. Recent research has found that birds are very intelligent and extremely resilient and adaptable creatures Click on the image below to find out more. Books can also be mailed to international addresses, as many of my Followers can testify.

Have a wonderful week and we hope the weather is kind to you.If you are new to my website, my blog or birding please check out my pages on Birding for Beginners and other interesting pages on my Home Page.

The primary lesson we can glean from the Lyrebird is that of being a good listener. Most of us in a conversation are often thinking ahead of what is being said so we can add our own story, which does not assist the story of one speaking. It only adds to the ego of the one responding, who has not shown that they have truly listened and empathised with the one sharing their heart. A good listen remains silent and takes in what is said and like the Lyrebird shares back to the one sharing what they have heard to show interest and empathy.

Make good eye contact and show attentive body language with frequent nods and ‘mm’s

e.g. “So you’re frustrated with your boss at work because he won’t listen to your suggestions ?”

Empathetic listening – where you respond with active listening to a person sharing their true feelings with you is the highest, deepest and richest form of conversation that we can possibly have. This kind of listening can open the way to help our friends and family members de stress as they share their load with you and you show you are truly interested and seeking to understand. Many have been saved from taking their own lives because someone took the time to properly listen and reflect back their understanding of what they heard said to the one sharing. Each time you do this it will free the one sharing to continue to share at a deeper level of trust, freeing them to share the heart of their problem which they have been concealing from those who they feel are not worthy to listen, because they deem lack of true interest in their life. If you want people to have fond memories of you and remember you – listen with understanding and empathetic responses.

“To answer before listening— that is folly and shame.” – Proverbs 18:13 (NIV)

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Adv. Dip. in Counselling and Family Therapy.

Member of Birdlife Australia

To introduce people to our unique Australian birds,

And learn from them how to live a healthy and happy life.

NOTE: All photos, videos and music used on this website are photographed, composed, performed  by the site owner and remains his copyrighted property, unless otherwise stated. The use of any material that is not original material of the site owner is duly acknowledged as such. © W. A. Hewson 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026