On Wednesday I went for a late afternoon jaunt down the Golden Stairs into
the Jamison Valley, near Katoomba (in the NSW Blue Mountains). Here I had
the pleasure of watching closely two lyrebirds feeding together on the
steep valley floor. Nothing unusual in that - Superb Lyrebirds are common
here and I have spent many rewarding hours taking visitors to this spot
(among others) to see them. But I never tire of watching and listening to
lyrebirds. The two birds I watched on Wednesday were both mature males with
the full complement of filamentary tail feathers, but their tails were very
short - obviously regrowing after moult. The two birds were moving through
the forest together, one closely following the other, the bird with the
slightly longer tail always in front. It was almost as if they were
connected by an invisible rope.
The front bird was singing sporadically as he foraged, concentrating mainly
on his kookaburra calls. He would sing just the first few notes, the
"revving up", of the kookaburra call over and over and over, occasionally
launching into a Crimson Rosella or his own rhythmical song, with
variations. Mesmerising to listen to. At other times he made strange hoarse
grunting sounds as he wandered through the forest. A third lyrebird was
singing nearby but remained hidden in the undergrowth.
Also in the tall forests of the valley, large numbers of Yellow-faced
Honeyeaters were flying south in an ever-moving current through the
treetops. Crescent Honeyeaters and Fan-tailed Cuckoos were extremely vocal
on the valley slopes just above the rainforest.
Cheers
Carol
Carol Probets
Katoomba
Blue Mountains NSW
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