Hello Naturerecordists,
Vicki Powys has drawn my attention to a Klas Strandberg message in which he
wrote:
> When I got the DVD with the Lyrebird, I almost wrote to the producer and
> asked him why he had set the audio level so low. I'm happy I didn't....
>
> (If you want to see and HEAR something fascinating!! - get in touch with =
Syd
> and he will guide you how to get it. Syd, where are you??)
>
Thank you Vicki. Thank you Klas.
Being technically inept and knowing nothing of DVD, I deleted your message
without reading to the end, Klas. I apologise.
For anyone whose curiosity may have been aroused, Klas is referring to a
truly remarkable film of an Albert Lyrebird, made by Glen Threlfo, the
naturalist at O'Reilly's Guest House, in Lamington National Park
(Australia). O'Reilly's have produced and sell it as either a video
cassette or a DVD disc.
The DVD is open region, and the video is available either as VHS or whateve=
r
version it is you use in the United States. They can be bought from the
shop at O'Reilly's - and only from there. The email address is:
Apart from the beauty of the bird and the virtuosity of his vocal
performance, the film is remarkable for two things:
=80 the achievement of filming at all, a species so extremely shy; and
=80 to see a wild bird accompanying his song with a musical instrument.
"Rhythm sticks", I hasten to explain, form the musical instrument.
Superb Lyrebirds, which have been extensively filmed, clear an area 3 or 4
feet in diameter (a metre or more across) and mound up the earth on which t=
o
sing and display. Albert's Lyrebirds use a largely natural situation,
reasonably common in their rainforest habitat, where several thin vines
and/or sticks lying loosely on the ground, form a platform for their
performance. If the vines are dry, knocking one against another produces a
tapping sound.
Lyrebirds are famous for their mimicry, but their own songs are also
remarkable. One we have called the "Gronking Song", because of the loud
"gronk gronk" notes. But between the gronks there are phrases of very soft=
,
rhythmical notes. In the film (and with all Lamington lyrebirds in fact),
the rhythm is waltz time - three beats to a bar. But in various other
areas, I have tape-recorded two, four and five beats to a bar. (Lyrebirds
learn to sing by copying other lyrebirds, so all individuals in any
particular locality use the same gronking song rhythm.)
In the film, the bird can be seen positioning himself on the vines, and
testing them prior to his gronking song. Then he grasps one vine with his
foot and deliberately taps it on the one beneath to produce an audible soun=
d
in perfect time with the soft rhythmic notes of his voice.
The Albert's Lyrebird was described as a species in 1851, but it was not
until 1972, that the nature of the display platform was described in the
ornithological literature. They are so shy that it is extremely difficult
to approach anywhere near to one that is singing. Their loud territorial
song can be heard a mile away, but well before you get anywhere near the
singing bird, he sees you and disappears.
The same shyness no doubt accounts for another aspect of the song not being
recognised for over 100 years - that the mimicry is used in fixed order to
produce a stereotyped song about 40 to 50 seconds long, which may be cycled
over over and over. Again all the males in the one area used the same
mimicry cycle.
I will add below, one more tribute to the shyness of the species from my ow=
n
experience, but this is already getting too long so I should explain that
Glen Threlfo at O'Reilly's spent literally years getting one individual
gradually accustomed to his presence. Eventually he was able to build a
hide without the bird deserting his display platform, and the filming could
begin.
"George", as Glen calls him, will now tolerate someone approaching
cautiously, and you can watch his performance. And in case anyone reading
this should visit Australia, I should add that the lyrebird breeding season
is in the Oz winter, approx. May to early August. At other times of the
year you may be able to see "George" but he won't be performing. And a
further note of caution: we reckon he is now about 30 years old. No-one
knows how long an Albert's Lyrebird lives, so no-one can predict how long
George will continue to delight O'Reilly's guests.
But the video/DVD is available.
Cheers
Syd
(BTW, I have no commercial interest in O'Reilly's - just a fond hope of
taping George's song every breeding season from now on, for so long as he
and I both remain active.)
___________________________________________
I think it was in 1970, that having found the nature of the Albert's
Lyrebird display platform, I decided to try to photograph the display. (At
that stage no photo had ever been taken of an adult Albert's lyrebird in th=
e
wild.) I built a hide near one of the bird's most used platforms. He
immediately deserted that platform.
I found another of his platforms which was about 10 yards/metres from a
large Eucalyptus grandis tree, a species that sheds all its outer bark
annually in long strips, and also sheds a lot of dead branches. I made a
minimum sized hide against the base of the tree and covered it with branche=
s
and bark to look like a natural heap of debris. This the bird accepted.
I had a single flash mounted on a stick near the platform with bark draped
over it to look reasonably natural. Still camera with telephoto lens, and =
a
heavy cable to charge the flash from a motor-cycle battery. These days one
might get by without a flash using a digital camera, but natural lighting
was quite inadequate for the film available to me 30 years ago.
The bird performs. The flash goes off. He momentarily pauses, then
continues. I think I took about five or six shots before he noticed where
the flash was coming from. He's staring right at it. I couldn't resist an=
d
took another shot. HE WAS GONE IN A FLASH! (pun intended!) So that was th=
e
end of that. I clearly was not going to get any more photos. I packed up
and left, taking the flash, but luckily (and it was just luck, not
deliberate) leaving the stick and draped bark.
Two weeks later, I come back to change the tape on some auto-record gear,
and to my surprise and delight, he's back performing at that same platform.
Set up the gear, and this time there's no trouble. I can fire the flash as
often as I like and he simply ignores it.
Clearly what happened was this. He knew his surroundings so well that whe=
n
the flash drew his attention to the stick and draped bark, he knew it had
not been there before. It was doing something - the flash - so he was not
taking any chances and departed immediately. But when he found that it was
always there, never moved, he was satisfied it was harmless and could be
ignored.
Gives you an idea of just what Glen has achieved in getting "George", to
accept him.
S
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
|