Endless Forms Most Beautiful - The Lyrebird
Endless Forms Most Beautiful is a weekly, Sunday post inviting everyone to learn more about the incredible biodiversity on planet earth. This week’s edition introduces the Lyrebird.
by Richie
I was bored one day and I thought I would look for some good YouTube videos. I had no idea that I would be watching a video from an animal documentary, but the name of the video just caught my eye: “Amazing Lyrebird Footage. Mimics Chainsaw, Camera, Music, DJ”. Now, I had never heard of a lyrebird, but any bird that can mimic a chainsaw is pretty awesome, so I went ahead and clicked on the video.
Now, after I saw this, I was just thinking someone messed with the video and put it on YouTube. So I looked up the Lyrebird on the internet and it turns out that it is truly capable of mimicking chainsaws, car alarms, and other human made noises. From what I have found out by looking at sites, the Lyrebird must have the most unique song to impress his mate. Since the Lyrebird has no song of its own, it must copy other birds’ songs. Sometimes when there are other noises in the forest, such as chainsaws and car alarms, the Lyrebird will copy that sound and use it to attract a mate. I think this is a wonderful example of the amazing animals in our world and just gives us more reason to try our best to protect it.
What other information can you find about Lyrebirds?
After watching the video, do you think the Lyrebird truly has no song of its own when it copies human noises?
Sources:
December 2nd, 2007 at 11:23 am
That video was awsome. I had heard about the lyre bird being able to copy sounds that it hears but i had no idea at all that it could do it so well. From the video and the other websites it seems that the bird only copies other sounds. Why doesnt the bird make its own song? Also how do the female lyre birds know that a lyrebird is calling and not some other type of bird? Cool post that bird is awsome!
December 2nd, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Wow richie that is awesome! Who knew a bird would be capable of mimicing those noises. here is a website http://home.iprimus.com.au/readman/lyrebird.htm
that explains some general knowledge of a lyre bird.
I’ve also heard that the mocking bird mimics other birds calls, is this true, does it do it to the extent of the lyre bird?
December 2nd, 2007 at 1:50 pm
That was a really cool video! It’s so amazing that the Lyrebird can copy other bird’s songs! I found some great information about Lyrebirds on this website http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/npws.nsf/Content/Lyrebirds.
According to the website Lyrebirds live in forests near the Queensland/New South Wales border in Australia. It also says that they eat spiders, bugs, frogs, and other small invertebrates.
December 2nd, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Wow, thats truly amazing. I knew birds could mimick other bird noises, however I never thought they could mimick human made noises. That video was really cool to watch, and after that I realized that the lyrebirds probably don’t have any type of song of its own. Why would it copy other noises to mate otherwise? This site I found tells some basic facts about the lyrebird. http://www.amonline.net.au/factSheets/superb_lyrebird.htm
really interesting post!
December 2nd, 2007 at 2:18 pm
When i was younger i would walk through the park with my mom and she would point a bunch of birds out to me and tell me about them. one time when we where walking my mom pointed out the lyrebird to me she told me that they were not as pretty as the other birds but they were just as cool if not cooler than the other birds because they copied other birds songs. i was like 6 when i heard this and i always thought it was called a lyerbird because it would “lie” about what is was to the other birds. i always wondered about that , so where do lyerbird get their names? is it from how they “lie” or is it just a name that was givin to the bird?
December 2nd, 2007 at 3:48 pm
This is such an awesome species!!! I have already seen a video on the Lyrebird and have also shared Richie’s disbelief. I thought it was suppose to be some sort of joke, but once I looked up the bird I discovered it to be true. Here is some of the information that I learned when I looked up the Lyrebird.
-There are two different species of the Lyrebird: The Superb Lyrebird and Albert’s Lyrebird
-Lyrebirds are Australia’s best known native bird, but are rarely seen in their natural habitat
-Lyrebirds feed on insects, spiders, earthworms, and seeds
December 2nd, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Thats awesome how the Lyre bird can mimic other birds noises to impress a female, which is a perfect example of a courtship ritual. I also really enjoyed the video its cool to see the birds in action.
Do the females have the same ability?
Heres a good site:
http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/npws.nsf/Content/Lyrebirds
December 2nd, 2007 at 5:49 pm
I found another website explaining the lyrebird
http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/education/factfiles/04.htm
did you know that the lyrebird is on austrailia’s 10 cent coin?
December 2nd, 2007 at 7:19 pm
Cool Post Richie!
I found a really good site (below) that talks about the lyrebird. It says that the male is bigger in size than the female, the bird is featured on australia’s 10 cent coin, and it can even imitate a dog barking. The site has lots of other good information and a good picture.
http://www.australianfauna.com/lyrebird.php
December 2nd, 2007 at 9:09 pm
wow thats so cool! i wonder now if since they can imitate human noises if their ban from being a pet to someone. because i remember i think it was ferrets that could pick pocket really easily and they were banned from being pets.
December 2nd, 2007 at 9:09 pm
That is awsome i’ve heard of liar birds but have never seen one even on a video. My favorite part was when it mimiced the chainsaw that would be so fun to do myself. Do they only live in Australia?
December 2nd, 2007 at 9:09 pm
This site has some other pictures and some good insight on the lyrebird.
http://www.montereybay.com/creagrus/lyrebirds.html
I think we should definatley try and protect this bird because it is so unique!
December 2nd, 2007 at 10:55 pm
Yes Stephen, to answer ur question they only live in Australia.
December 2nd, 2007 at 11:56 pm
I’ve never heard of anything like that before! That’s awesome! That might get kind of confusing thought if it can mimick all of these life like noises. Is it a very common bird?
December 3rd, 2007 at 8:45 am
I was wondering, is this species endangered?
December 3rd, 2007 at 4:36 pm
Richie, has anyone ever tried to bring the birds to other countires besides Australia?
December 3rd, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Wow, this is awesome! When i usually think of a bird curping i think of sunshine and peace not chain saws! : ) I loved the video! And to answer your question i don’t think they have a song of their own, because they are mimiking us. I guess you could say they were inspired by us!
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:01 pm
It is blogs like these that make me realize how much i underestimate the abilities of nature! Naturally as humans, we tend to put ourselves at a higher intellectual/emotional advantage over birds. What we don’t realize, is that there are many species that are extremely intelligent, enough to be compared to a human. The Lyrebird is fascinating at its mimicry. But along with this, there are other birds who are extremely capable of doing the same thing. A more common bird that were all familiar with is the parrot. A parrot can mimic pretty much anything it hears, such as an alarm clock, dogs barking, and children screaming. Some large birds have the intellectual as a 3 year old and the emotional stability of a one year old. How amazing! Such stories as The Lyrebird make you give the bird species more credit and attention that is much needed!
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Wow, I think that video was really cool. Actually, I think the fact that they can mimic other noises is just extroardinary. There are so many awesome things that God has given to each of his wonderful creations. I think we just need to take some time to acknowledge and really appreciate and observe those beautiful things around us. This was a really great post.
I found a really good website on lyrebirds, how they act, what they look like, etc.
http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/npws.nsf/Content/Lyrebirds
:]
December 4th, 2007 at 12:15 am
That is really cool about the Lyrebird! I never knew too much about these birds except their ability to make noises and that they live in Australia. I found this really cool website. It gives great facts and it also lets you hear the bird!
http://www.thinkingaustralia.com/thinking_australia/zoo/lyrebird.asp
December 4th, 2007 at 12:18 am
I liked that website a lot, Will. I was wondering if there is a distinction between males and females of the bird other than their size.
December 4th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
I found this interesting artice about the lyrebird
http://www.publish.csiro.au/?paper=ZO9860351
it talks about their reproduction and time-energy budgets!
I think it is so weird that the lyrebird can make such weird noises!
December 4th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
i just showed my parents the video and they did not believe it was real! but my mom also pointed out another bird the copies other birds and its right here in Georgia its the Mockingbird. which i thought was really cool because we have our own lyerbird in a way.
December 4th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
also i found out where the name came from. a lyre is an instrument from greek times which played beautiful music. the lyrebird uses the sounds of other birds to come up with the most beautiful song to find a mate so it was named a lyrebird because the bird makes beautiful songs like the instrument.
December 4th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
Richie great post! I had never heard of this bird before but after watching that video and reading about it, it is very fascinating. Some of the imitations the bird made where almost perect. http://www.montereybay.com/creagrus/lyrebirds.html
Here is a site with some great information on it
December 4th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
After reading an article on the Bird I found out that there were two different kinds of Lyrebirds, the the superb lyrebird and the Albert’s lyrebird. Scientist in this article think that the reason lyrebirds sing is to protect their area from the other lyrebirds. They also eat bugs and spiders.
Here is the site that has more great information on it.
http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/npws.nsf/Content/Lyrebirds
December 5th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
I think you are right Richie. If the lyrebird’s song is only an imitation of a whole bunch of other noises thrown together, then they have no song of their own, just a song made by bits and pieces of other things, not really unique for the species. But the fact that he can make all those sounds after just hearing them was amazing, and his kukabura imatation was amazing!!!
December 5th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
After copying so much noise, i would assume that it had forgotten its original voice. However i the video it made a sound over and over again in between new ones. If I had to guess I would say that this is the true voice of the lyre bird.
December 6th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Im sry for the late response Rachel, but to answer your question, no, people have not try’d to introduce this species of bird to other countries, it is only found in Australia.
February 12th, 2008 at 6:25 am
What an amazing piece of information! That the lyre bird imitates car alarms is truly astonishing. The diversity among God’s creations is what makes life interesting.
September 23rd, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Reading this blog made me think of one of the first school reports I ever wrote. In first grade we all had to research an Australian animal and this was the animal I picked out of the hat. At first I had no idea what this bird was but when I researched it I found out how amazing this bird really is!
The name “lyrebird” comes from the Greek instrument that resembles the birds’ tail and feather length and size. The tail has sixteen feathers: two medians, filaments, and two lyrates. Only the males have this long, beautiful tail that they use to attract females to mate. The lyrebird can imitate sounds well because of its syrinx (the vocal organ in birds), which is located at the base of the trachea. The lyrebirds’ syrinx is more complex than other songbirds. But there is one thing I do not understand- if the lyrebird is capable of imitating practically any bizarre noise, why can’t they talk like parrots?
http://montereybay.com/creagrus/lyrebirds.html
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/plantsanimals/Lyrebirds.htm