Hi everyone
I had a lively email discussion with the producer of 'Life of Birds' about the
lyrebirds mimicing mechanical sounds in the programme. He did admit that the
birds they used were raised in captivity, and I have since learnt more about
the 'camera shutter' bird at Healesville and the 'chainsaw' bird at Adelaide
Zoo. He did say, however, that 'everyone knows that lyrebirds mimic things like
chainsaws' - and I suspect that this was David Attenborough's belief - probably
passed to him by people he met in Oz when he came over to help make the
programme. I have yet to hear a recording of a wild lyrebird mimicing a
mechanical sound, but the 'Life of Birds' gave the definite impression that
David Attenborough believed they did. It has now become a matter of deep faith
amongst people who have seen the programme (and others from earlier times as
well), which is impossible to shake. Such a belief appears all over the place -
from 'official' national parks signs and information - even to the website of
the BA Atlas. Please, please can someone play me a recording of a wild lyrebird
mimicing a mechanical sound - not just a belief that someone had definitely
heard such a recording in the past!
The story of the 'flute-playing' lyrebird of Dorrigo is a different kettle of
bananas. I have heard all the relevant recordings, and the bird in question is
very convincing - especially when played alongside the popular tune that it was
supposedly mimicing. It is possible that some of the lyrebirds in the immediate
vicinity picked up elements of this mimicry for a while. There is a flute-like
call in the birds' own repertoire which can be heard in wild birds from Dorrigo
to Werrikimbe, and it would not take much modification of this to be quite
close to the tune in question. However, my work on the mimicry of Tasmanian
lyrebirds, which were taken to the forests of southern Tassie from Victoria a
bit over 60 years ago, has shown that mimiced calls fade quickly from the
repertoire of lyrebirds in the absence of reinforcement from the original model
(although there was evidence, however, of some residual 'whipbird' in the birds
I listened to recently in Tasmania).
The 'flute-like' call is, however, quite an extraordinary one, and I have set
aside all of June this year to follow it through it's entire range - which is
fortunately not far from where I live - and to make a collection of sound
recordings. Maybe I will be convinced that the Superb Lyrebird so loves the
sound of the flute that it has incorporated it into its own 'permanent'
repertoire. We shall see.
Richard (the skeptic)
Richard Jordan
PO Box 449
Bellingen
NSW 2454
tel (02) 6655 9456
mob 042 838 5677
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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