Documentaries
s human activities have encroached on the lyrebird’s natural boundaries, it’s picked up artificial sounds like car alarms, chainsaws, camera shutters and baby cries too
Elizabeth Benner · CBC Docs
· Posted: Feb 21, 2024 10:26 AM EST | Last Updated: February 22
Watch this bird replicate the calls of other birds (plus a car alarm and a crying baby)Watch Secret World of Sound on CBC Gem.
In the forests of eastern Australia, a unique annual ritual is underway.
A male superb lyrebird fans out its large tail and bobs up and down amongst the foliage. It’s performing a song and dance routine in hopes of winning a potential mate.
Unfortunately, this bird isn’t drawing any attention. Female lyrebirds require more complex songs to win the ability to mate.
During his mating display, the male lyre bird puts on a show in his performing ground, replicating the sounds he hears in the surrounding forest — with incredible accuracy. (Infield Fly Productions / Humblebee Films)So this male lyrebird changes its tune: listening carefully to the sounds around him, he mimics them with frightening accuracy.
In this clip from Love and Rivals, the second episode of Secret World of Sound, we follow the male lyrebird, who can replicate the songs of more than 20 different birds, including a kookaburra’s chattering laughter, the siren-like whistles of the eastern whipbird and the throaty calls of the pied currawong. Female lyrebirds prefer males who can mimic a wide variety of sounds — the more accurately, the better.
As human activities have encroached on the lyrebird’s natural boundaries, its catalogue has even come to include man-made sounds. Notes of car alarms, chainsaws, camera shutters and baby cries accent the lyrebird’s mating repertoire.
The lyrebird has a well-developed vocal organ called the syrinx, similar to vocal cords in humans and other species. The syrinx sits at the bottom of the trachea and acts as a resonating chamber. The ability for more intricate calls are due to muscles around this chamber, which produce changes in loudness and pitch in their song. Many singing birds can even control the left and right sides of the syrinx separately, allowing them to sing with two independent voices.
As humans encroach further into the lyre bird’s territory, the males songs have incorporated more and more human-made sounds. (Infield Fly Productions / Humblebee Films)With age, the lyrebird is able to create more intricate melodies and is more successful at acquiring a mate.
In the video above, the male lyrebird’s more complex song has intrigued a female — for a moment. Unfortunately, there’s no response. But for the bird that is sometimes called the world’s greatest mimic, the show must go on.
Watch the video above for the full story.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Elizabeth is a writer with a Masters in Journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University and a BSc. from the University of Toronto. Elizabeth has covered episodes of The Nature of Things about conservation, global warming and the natural world.
The race for climate change solutions leaves researchers divided
