Lyrebird
Encyclopedia
A Lyrebird is either of two species
of ground-dwelling Australia
n bird
s, that form the genus, Menura, and the family
Menuridae. They are most notable for their superb ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds from their environment. Lyrebirds have unique plumes of neutral coloured tailfeathers.
Lyrebirds are among Australia's best-known native birds. 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.
like the broadly similar looking partridge
, junglefowl
, and pheasant
s that Europeans were familiar with, and this was reflected in the early names the Superb Lyrebird had, including Native Pheasant. They were also called Peacock-wrens and Australian Birds-of-paradise. The idea that they were related to the pheasants was abandoned when the first chicks, which are altricial, were described. They were not placed with the passerines until a paper was published in 1840, 12 years after they were first placed in their own family, Menuridae. Within that family they are placed in 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 bowerbird
s remains controversial.
Lyrebirds are ancient Australian animals: the Australian Museum
has fossils of lyrebirds dating back to about 15 million years ago. The prehistoric Menura tyawanoides has been described from Early Miocene
fossil
s found at the famous Riversleigh
site.
birds, amongst the largest in the order. They are ground living birds with strong legs and feet and short rounded wings. They are generally poor fliers and rarely take to the air except for periods of downhill gliding. The Superb Lyrebird is the larger of the two species. Females are 74–84 cm long, and the males are a larger 80–98 cm long — making them the third-largest passerine
bird after the Thick-billed Raven
and the Common Raven
. Albert's Lyrebird is slightly smaller at a maximum of 90 cm (male) and 84 cm (female) (around 30-35 inches) They have smaller, less spectacular lyrate feathers than the Superb Lyrebird, but are otherwise similar.
, New South Wales
and south-east Queensland
, as well as in Tasmania
where it was introduced in the 19th century. Many Superb Lyrebirds live in the Dandenong Ranges National Park
and Kinglake National Park
around Melbourne
, the Royal National Park
and Illawarra
region south of Sydney and in many other parks along the east coast of Australia as well as non protected bushland.
Albert's Lyrebird is only found in a very small area of Southern Queensland
rainforest
.
have been joined by lyrebirds.
s such as cockroaches, beetles (both adults and larvae), earwigs, fly larvae, and the adults and larvae of moths. Other prey taken includes centipede
s, spider
s, earthworm
s. Less commonly taken prey includes stick insects, bugs, amphipods, lizards, frogs and occasionally, seed
s. They find food by scratching with their feet through the leaf
-litter.
The breeding cycle of the lyrebirds is long, and lyrebirds are long-lived birds, capable of living for up to thirty years. They also that start breeding later in life than other passerine birds. Female Superb Lyrebirds start breeding at the age of five or six, and males at the age of six to eight. Males defend territories from other males, and these territories may contain the breeding territories of up to eight females. Within the male territories the males create or use display platforms, in the case of the Superb Lyrebird it is a mound of bare soil, in the Albert's Lyrebird it is simply a pile of twigs on the forest floor.
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. The female builds an untidy nest, usually low to the ground in a moist gully, where she lays a single egg
. 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.
is the most complexly-muscled of the Passerine
s (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 such as koalas and dingos. The lyrebird is capable of imitating almost any sound and they have been recorded mimicking human caused sounds such as a mill whistle to a cross-cut saw, chainsaw
s, car engines and car alarm
s, fire alarms
, rifle
-shots, camera
shutters, dog
s barking, crying babies, and even the human voice. However while the mimickry of human noises is widely reported the extent to which it happens is exaggerated, and the phenomenon is quite unusual.
The mimicked calls incorporated into the displays of the Superb Lyrebird are partly learned from the local environment, but also learnt from other Superb Lyrebirds. An instructive example of this is the population of Superb Lyrebirds in Tasmania, which have retained the calls of species not native to Tasmania in their repertoire, but have also added some local Tasmanian endemic bird noises. It takes young birds about a year to perfect their mimicked repertoire. The female lyrebirds of both species are also mimics, and will sing on occasion but the females do so with less skill that the males.
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 1930s, 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 1930s: "The Keel Row" and "Mosquito's Dance". Musicologist David Rothenberg has endorsed this information.
and Victoria
(where the Superb Lyrebird has its natural habitat) – and in Queensland
(where Albert's Lyrebird has its natural habitat).
The lyrebird is so called because the male bird has a spectacular tail consisting of 16 highly modified feather
s (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 Superb Lyrebird specimen (which had been taken from Australia to England
during the early 19th century) 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 held as in John Gould's painting, nor as in the portrayal of the Superb Lyrebird on the 1932 postage stamp (featured on this page above the photo of John Gould's painting). 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 in the image at the top of this page, where the Superb Lyrebird's tail (in courtship display) is portrayed accurately.
by the IUCN, but due to careful management of the species and its habitat the species was downgraded to Near Threatened
in 2009. The Superb Lyrebird, once seriously threatened by habitat destruction, is now classified as common. Even so, lyrebirds are vulnerable to cat
s and fox
es, and it remains to be seen if habitat protection schemes will stand up to increased human population pressure.
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of ground-dwelling Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s, that form the genus, Menura, and the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Menuridae. They are most notable for their superb ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds from their environment. Lyrebirds have unique plumes of neutral coloured tailfeathers.
Lyrebirds are among Australia's best-known native birds. 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.
Classification
The classification of lyrebirds was the subject of much debate after the first specimens reached European scientists after 1798. They were thought to be GalliformesGalliformes
Galliformes are an order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding domestic or game bird, containing turkey, grouse, chicken, New and Old World Quail, ptarmigan, partridge, pheasant, and the Cracidae. Common names are gamefowl or gamebirds, landfowl, gallinaceous birds or galliforms...
like the broadly similar looking partridge
Partridge
Partridges are birds in the pheasant family, Phasianidae. They are a non-migratory Old World group.These are medium-sized birds, intermediate between the larger pheasants and the smaller quails. Partridges are native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East...
, junglefowl
Junglefowl
Junglefowl are the four living species of bird from the genus Gallus in the Gallinaceous bird order, which occur in India, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and Indonesia....
, and pheasant
Pheasant
Pheasants refer to some members of the Phasianinae subfamily of Phasianidae in the order Galliformes.Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly ornate with bright colours and adornments such as wattles and long tails. Males are usually larger than females and have...
s that Europeans were familiar with, and this was reflected in the early names the Superb Lyrebird had, including Native Pheasant. They were also called Peacock-wrens and Australian Birds-of-paradise. The idea that they were related to the pheasants was abandoned when the first chicks, which are altricial, were described. They were not placed with the passerines until a paper was published in 1840, 12 years after they were first placed in their own family, Menuridae. Within that family they are placed in 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 bowerbird
Bowerbird
Bowerbirds make up the bird family Ptilonorhynchidae. The family has 20 species in eight genera. These are medium-sized passerines, ranging from the Golden Bowerbird to the Great Bowerbird...
s remains controversial.
Lyrebirds are ancient Australian animals: the Australian Museum
Australian Museum
The Australian Museum is the oldest museum in Australia, with an international reputation in the fields of natural history and anthropology. It features collections of vertebrate and invertebrate zoology, as well as mineralogy, palaeontology, and anthropology...
has fossils of lyrebirds dating back to about 15 million years ago. The prehistoric Menura tyawanoides has been described from Early Miocene
Miocene
The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
s found at the famous Riversleigh
Riversleigh
Riversleigh, in North West Queensland, is Australia's most famous fossil site. The 100 km² area has fossil remains of ancient mammals, birds and reptiles of Oligocene and Miocene age...
site.
Species
There are two species of lyrebird:- Superb LyrebirdSuperb LyrebirdThe Superb Lyrebird is a pheasant-sized songbird, approximately 100cm long, with brown upper body plumage, grayish-brown below, rounded wings and strong legs...
(Menura novaehollandiae), called "Weringerong," "Woorail," and "Bulln-bulln" in Aboriginal languagesAustralian Aboriginal languagesThe Australian Aboriginal languages comprise several language families and isolates native to the Australian Aborigines of Australia and a few nearby islands, but by convention excluding the languages of Tasmania and the Torres Strait Islanders...
. - Albert's LyrebirdAlbert's LyrebirdThe Albert's Lyrebird is a pheasant-sized songbird, approximately 90cm long, with brown upper body plumage and rich chestnut below. It is very similar with the Superb Lyrebird in its habits. This bird also mimics other species sounds....
(Menura alberti), was named in honour of Prince Albert, the husband of Queen VictoriaVictoria of the United KingdomVictoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
.
Description
The Lyrebirds are large passerinePasserine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
birds, amongst the largest in the order. They are ground living birds with strong legs and feet and short rounded wings. They are generally poor fliers and rarely take to the air except for periods of downhill gliding. The Superb Lyrebird is the larger of the two species. Females are 74–84 cm long, and the males are a larger 80–98 cm long — making them the third-largest passerine
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
bird after the Thick-billed Raven
Thick-billed Raven
The Thick-billed Raven , a Corvid from the Horn of Africa, shares with the Common Raven the distinction of being the largest in the Corvid family, and indeed the largest of the bird order Passeriformes . They measure 60-64 cm in length and weigh 1.5 kg...
and the Common Raven
Common Raven
The Common Raven , also known as the Northern Raven, is a large, all-black passerine bird. Found across the northern hemisphere, it is the most widely distributed of all corvids...
. Albert's Lyrebird is slightly smaller at a maximum of 90 cm (male) and 84 cm (female) (around 30-35 inches) They have smaller, less spectacular lyrate feathers than the Superb Lyrebird, but are otherwise similar.
Distribution and habitat
The Superb Lyrebird is found in areas of rainforest in VictoriaVictoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
and south-east Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, as well as in Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
where it was introduced in the 19th century. Many Superb Lyrebirds live in the Dandenong Ranges National Park
Dandenong Ranges National Park
Dandenong Ranges National Park is in Victoria, Australia, 38 km east of Melbourne.Because the park is located in an urban area, the park has a long history of major problems with feral and roaming animals...
and Kinglake National Park
Kinglake National Park
Kinglake is a national park in Victoria, Australia, 50 kilometres northeast of Melbourne. The park includes tracks , and camping facilities....
around Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, the Royal National Park
Royal National Park
Royal National Park is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, 29 km south of Sydney CBD.Founded by Sir John Robertson, Acting Premier of New South Wales, and formally proclaimed on 26 April 1879, it is the world's second oldest purposed national park, the first usage of the term...
and Illawarra
Illawarra
Illawarra is a region in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is a coastal region situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the Shoalhaven or South Coast region. It encompasses the cities of Wollongong, Shellharbour, Shoalhaven and the town of Kiama. The central region contains Lake...
region south of Sydney and in many other parks along the east coast of Australia as well as non protected bushland.
Albert's Lyrebird is only found in a very small area of Southern Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
rainforest
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
.
Behaviour
Lyrebirds are shy and difficult to approach, particularly the Albert's Lyrebird, which means that there is little information about its behaviour. When lyrebirds detect potential danger they will pause and scan their surroundings, then give an alarm call. Having done so, they will either flee the vicinity on foot, or seek cover and freeze. Also, firefighters sheltering in mine shafts during bushfiresBushfires in Australia
Bushfires in Australia are frequently occurring events during the hotter months of the year due to Australia's mostly hot, dry climate. Large areas of land are ravaged every year by bushfires, which also cause property damage and loss of life....
have been joined by lyrebirds.
Diet and feeding
Lyrebirds feed on the ground and as individuals. A range of invetebrate prey is taken, including insectInsect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s such as cockroaches, beetles (both adults and larvae), earwigs, fly larvae, and the adults and larvae of moths. Other prey taken includes centipede
Centipede
Centipedes are arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda of the subphylum Myriapoda. They are elongated metameric animals with one pair of legs per body segment. Despite the name, centipedes can have a varying number of legs from under 20 to over 300. Centipedes have an odd number of pairs of...
s, spider
Spider
Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
s, earthworm
Earthworm
Earthworm is the common name for the largest members of Oligochaeta in the phylum Annelida. In classical systems they were placed in the order Opisthopora, on the basis of the male pores opening posterior to the female pores, even though the internal male segments are anterior to the female...
s. Less commonly taken prey includes stick insects, bugs, amphipods, lizards, frogs and occasionally, seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s. They find food by scratching with their feet through the leaf
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
-litter.
Breeding
Male lyrebirds call mostly during winter, when they construct and maintain an open arena-mound in dense bush
The Bush
"The bush" is a term used for rural, undeveloped land or country areas in certain countries.-Australia:The term is iconic in Australia. In reference to the landscape, "bush" describes a wooded area, intermediate between a shrubland and a forest, generally of dry and nitrogen-poor soil, mostly...
, on which they sing and dance in courtship
Courtship
Courtship is the period in a couple's relationship which precedes their engagement and marriage, or establishment of an agreed relationship of a more enduring kind. In courtship, a couple get to know each other and decide if there will be an engagement or other such agreement...
, to display to potential mates, of which the male lyrebird has several. The female builds an untidy nest, usually low to the ground in a moist gully, where she lays a single egg
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
. She is the sole parent who incubates
Avian incubation
Incubation refers to the process by which certain oviparous animals hatch their eggs, and to the development of the embryo within the egg. The most vital factor of incubation is the constant temperature required for its development over a specific period. Especially in domestic fowl, the act of...
the egg over 50 days until it hatches, and she is also the sole carer of the lyrebird chick.
Vocalizations and mimicry
A lyrebird's song is one of the more distinctive aspets of its behavioural biology. Lyrebirds sing throughout the year, but the peak of the breeding season, from June to August, is when they sing with the most intensity. During this peak they may sing for four hours of the day, almost half the hours of daylight. The song of the Superb Lyrebird is mixture of seven elements of its own song and any number of other mimicked songs and noises. The lyrebird's syrinxSyrinx (biology)
Syrinx is the name for the vocal organ of birds. Located at the base of a bird's trachea, it produces sounds without the vocal cords of mammals. The sound is produced by vibrations of some or all of the membrana tympaniformis and the pessulus caused by air flowing through the syrinx...
is the most complexly-muscled of the Passerine
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
s (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 such as koalas and dingos. The lyrebird is capable of imitating almost any sound and they have been recorded mimicking human caused sounds such as a mill whistle to a cross-cut saw, chainsaw
Chainsaw
A chainsaw is a portable mechanical saw, powered by electricity, compressed air, hydraulic power, or most commonly a two-stroke engine...
s, car engines and car alarm
Car alarm
A car alarm is an electronic device installed in a vehicle in an attempt to discourage theft of the vehicle itself, its contents, or both. Car alarms work by emitting high-volume sound when the conditions necessary for triggering are met, as well as by flashing some of the vehicle's...
s, fire alarms
Fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition....
, rifle
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
-shots, camera
Camera
A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
shutters, dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
s barking, crying babies, and even the human voice. However while the mimickry of human noises is widely reported the extent to which it happens is exaggerated, and the phenomenon is quite unusual.
The mimicked calls incorporated into the displays of the Superb Lyrebird are partly learned from the local environment, but also learnt from other Superb Lyrebirds. An instructive example of this is the population of Superb Lyrebirds in Tasmania, which have retained the calls of species not native to Tasmania in their repertoire, but have also added some local Tasmanian endemic bird noises. It takes young birds about a year to perfect their mimicked repertoire. The female lyrebirds of both species are also mimics, and will sing on occasion but the females do so with less skill that the males.
One researcher, Sydney Curtis, has recorded flute-like lyrebird calls in the vicinity of the New England National Park
New England National Park
New England National Park is situated on the Northern Tablelands in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia, 560 km north of Sydney. It is about 10 km south of Waterfall Way, just 85 km east of Armidale and 65 km west of Coffs Harbour...
. 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 1930s, 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
Frank Norman Robinson
Frank Norman Robinson was an Australian sound recording technician and ornithologist who worked for many years with the CSIRO. He was born in England, studied economics and languages at Cambridge University, joined the British American Tobacco Company and was stationed in Singapore. During the...
. 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 1930s: "The Keel Row" and "Mosquito's Dance". Musicologist David Rothenberg has endorsed this information.
Lyrebird emblems and logos
The lyrebird has been featured as a symbol and emblem many times, especially in New South WalesNew South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
and Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
(where the Superb Lyrebird has its natural habitat) – and in Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
(where Albert's Lyrebird has its natural habitat).
- A male Superb Lyrebird is featured on the reverseObverse and reverseObverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags , seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, obverse means the front face of the object and reverse...
of the Australian 10 cent coin. http://www.ramint.gov.au/making_coins/default.cfm?DefaultPage=coin_designs.cfm - A stylised Superb Lyrebird appears in the transparent window of the Australian 100 dollar note.
- A silhouette of a male Superb Lyrebird is the logo of the Australian Film CommissionAustralian Film CommissionThe Australian Film Commission was an Australian government agency with a mandate to promote the creation and distribution of films in Australia as well as to preserve the country's film history. It also had a production arm responsible for production and commissioning of films for government...
- 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 stylised illustration of a male Albert's Lyrebird was the logo of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, before the Conservatorium became part of Griffith UniversityGriffith UniversityGriffith University is a public, coeducational, research university located in the southeastern region of the Australian state of Queensland. The university has five satellite campuses located in the Gold Coast, Logan City and in the Brisbane suburbs of Mount Gravatt, Nathan and South Bank. Current...
. In the logo, the top part of the lyrebird's tail became a music staveStaff (music)In standard Western musical notation, the staff, or stave, is a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces that each represent a different musical pitch—or, in the case of a percussion staff, different percussion instruments. Appropriate music symbols, depending upon the intended effect,...
. - Australian band You Am IYou Am IYou Am I are an Australian alternative rock band, fronted by vocalist/guitarist and main songwriter Tim Rogers. They were the first Australian band to have three albums successively debut at #1 on the ARIA Charts, and are renowned for their live performances.-History:Tim Rogers formed the first...
's 2008 album Dilettantes and its first single, ErasmusErasmus (song)"Erasmus" is the first single from the album Dilettantes by Australian rock band You Am I, their eighth studio album.It was released as a download only single on iTunes on 6 September 2008.-Track listing:# "Erasmus" – 3:27# "Dilettantes" - 4:25...
, feature a drawing of a lyrebird by artist Ken Taylor. - A stylised illustration of part of a male Superb Lyrebird's tail is the logo for the Lyrebird Arts Council of Victoria.
- The lyrebird is also featured atop the crest of Panhellenic Sorority Alpha Chi OmegaAlpha Chi OmegaAlpha Chi Omega is a women's fraternity founded on October 15, 1885. Currently, there are 135 chapters of Alpha Chi Omega at colleges and universities across the United States and more than 200,000 lifetime members...
, whose symbol is the lyre. - There are many other companies with the name of Lyrebird, and these also have lyrebird logos.
Painting by John Gould
Feather
Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds and some non-avian theropod dinosaurs. They are considered the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates, and indeed a premier example of a complex evolutionary novelty. They...
s (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
Lyre
The lyre is a stringed musical instrument known for its use in Greek classical antiquity and later. The word comes from the Greek "λύρα" and the earliest reference to the word is the Mycenaean Greek ru-ra-ta-e, meaning "lyrists", written in Linear B syllabic script...
. This happened when a Superb Lyrebird specimen (which had been taken from Australia to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
during the early 19th century) was prepared for display at the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
by a taxidermist
Taxidermy
Taxidermy is the act of mounting or reproducing dead animals for display or for other sources of study. Taxidermy can be done on all vertebrate species of animals, including mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians...
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
Courtship
Courtship is the period in a couple's relationship which precedes their engagement and marriage, or establishment of an agreed relationship of a more enduring kind. In courtship, a couple get to know each other and decide if there will be an engagement or other such agreement...
display, and so he arranged the feathers in this way. Later, John Gould
John Gould
John Gould was an English ornithologist and bird artist. The Gould League in Australia was named after him. His identification of the birds now nicknamed "Darwin's finches" played a role in the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection...
(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 held as in John Gould's painting, nor as in the portrayal of the Superb Lyrebird on the 1932 postage stamp (featured on this page above the photo of John Gould's painting). 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 in the image at the top of this page, where the Superb Lyrebird's tail (in courtship display) is portrayed accurately.
Status and conservation
Lyrebirds are not endangered in the short to medium term. Albert's Lyrebird has a very restricted habitat and had been listed as VulnerableVulnerable
Vulnerable may refer to:*Vulnerability* Vulnerable , 2003* Vulnerable , 1997* Vulnerable , 2012* "Vulnerable" , a 1994 song by Roxette...
by the IUCN, but due to careful management of the species and its habitat the species was downgraded to Near Threatened
Near Threatened
Near Threatened is a conservation status assigned to species or lower taxa that may be considered threatened with extinction in the near future, although it does not currently qualify for the threatened status...
in 2009. The Superb Lyrebird, once seriously threatened by habitat destruction, is now classified as common. Even so, lyrebirds are vulnerable to cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
s and fox
Fox
Fox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
es, and it remains to be seen if habitat protection schemes will stand up to increased human population pressure.
External links
- Lyrebird photos and information at the New South Wales Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water website
- The Albert's lyrebird project at the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management website
- Lyrebird videos at the Internet Bird Collection
- Adelaide Zoo's Superb Lyrebird "Chook" imitating construction sounds on YouTube
- Lyrebird song from BBC WorldwideBBC WorldwideBBC Worldwide Limited is the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in 1995. In the year to 31 March 2010 it made a profit of £145m on a turnover of £1.074bn. The company had made a profit of £106m...
YouTube channel, narrated by David AttenboroughDavid AttenboroughSir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...