Charles Bragg wrote, 16 May 2004:
> Considering the singing voices of the parrot family, perhaps it's just as well
> they only bang the stick. But yes, color me excited. Just another reason to
> return to Oz!
>
> -- Chuck
Oh yes, I see that I omitted to mention that my friend's recording
demonstrates the delightfully musical quality of the Palm Cockatoo's
calling. Though when Peter deliberately disturbed them, the alarm call had
the usual cockatoo harshness.
Cheers
Syd
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"Microphones are not ears,
Loudspeakers are not birds,
A listening room is not nature."
Klas Strandberg
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>From Tue Mar 8 18:27:10 2005
Message: 2
Date: Thu, 13 May 2004 19:23:53 -0700
From: Wild Sanctuary <>
Subject: Re: Lyrebird playing a musical instrument
Lots of examples beyond birds, folks. Music is control of sound.
Chimps, mtn and lowland gorillas, orang-utans pound out relevant
streams of information on the buttresses of ficus trees in the
rainforests of the world; dolphins in research centers from
California to Hawaii replicate sequences of sounds on keyboards
lowered into their tanks by researchers; bonobos "perform" with music
by "Sting" on synth keyboards in a lab located in Atlanta. And then
there's our cat, YoYo Meow...
Remember Luc Ferry's admonition and warning from his book, "The New
Ecological Order," when it comes to the natural world and music:
"Nature is beautiful when it imitates art."
Bernie Krause
>Can any Naturerecordist help me with a private inquiry to which I respond
>below? TIA.
>
>Dear Dr Milewski,
>
> You wrote:
>
>> From: "Antoni Milewski" <>
>> Date: Wed, 12 May 2004 22:16:49 +0800
>> To: "Syd Curtis" <>
>> Subject: Re: on lyrebirds, from antoni milewski
>
>>
>> One question in the meantime: am I right in thinking that lyrebirds are the
>> only non-human animals ever recorded to play musical instruments?
>
>In considering whether any other species does so, we come into the common
>situation that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. However -
>
>In "The Vocal Displays of the Lyrebirds (Menuridae)", Robinson & Curtis
>(1996), "Emu" 96, 258-275, I wrote:
>
> "The display platform and its use by the male Albert's Lyrebird were
>described by Curtis, 1972 ("The Albert Lyrebird in Display. "Emu" 72,
>81-84). A video recording by D. Behrens (1994) shows the bird grasping one
>of the vines and moving it up and down to produce the movement of the
>adjacent vegetation described by Curtis. On several occasions while
>tape-recording the song, it was possible to see that the movement of the
>vegetation synchronise perfectly with the rhythm of the gronking song. If
>the vine or stick neing moved crossed another and both were hard and dry, it
>produced a tapping sound accompanying the song - a rare, possibly unique,
>case of a wild bird using a musical instrument to accompany its song, if one
>may so regard rhythm sticks."
>
>Since then, Glen Threlfo, Naturalist at the O'Reilly's resort in Lamington
>National Park, has filmed the same male that Behrens filmed. O'Reilly's
>have produced a very beautiful commercial video and DVD of the lyrebird, and
>in it you can see and hear the bird, carefully positioning himself on the
>vines of his platform, and testing them, then launching into his 'rhythm
>sticks' accompaniment to his gronking song.
>
>I repeated this claim that Albert's Lyrebirds use rhythm sticks and may be
>the only wild birds in the world to accompany their song with a musical
>instrument, in a lyrebird article I co-authored which has been published in
>the Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. (Second Edition, Thomson/Gale,
>Detroit, New York, etc., 2003. Volume 10, page 334.)
>
>From time to time I get communications about lyrebirds, but no-one has yet
>denied my claim and told me of any other animal that could be considered to
>play a musical instrument.
>
>I seem to remember being told of a frog (also occurring in Lamington
>National Park) which builds a sort of amplifying chamber to enhance the
>effectiveness of its voice, but that scarcely rates as a musical instrument.
>
>So, for the present, I still regard the Albert's Lyrebird as unique in this
>regard.
>
>However, I am copying this to the <naturerecordists> mailing list, where we
>have an amazing resource of knowledge and helpfulness. Maybe someone will
>come up with another example.
>
>I would suggest that anyone contemplating writing anything about Albert's
>Lyrebirds should be sure to view that O'Reilly's video first. It is
>available only from the O'Reilly's shop, and unfortunately I can't find the
>email address. However, the address for the resort is
>
>
>
>and I'm sure the office would pass on any message.
>
>Sincerely
>
>Syd
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>"Microphones are not ears,
>Loudspeakers are not birds,
>A listening room is not nature."
>Klas Strandberg
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
--
Wild Sanctuary
P. O. Box 536
Glen Ellen, CA 95442
707-996-6677
707-996-0280 (FAX)
http://www.wildsanctuary.com
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