On 20/11/96 David McDonald wrote:
>Kim-Chye Lim's trip to South-east Queensland sounds really great.
>I am interested in Kim's comment re Albert's Lyrebird as follows:
>'3 encounters, on one occasion a male seen displaying to at least 2
>others'.
>Kim, could you describe this more fully? Perhaps a male on a display
>mound and two or more females attracted to his display at the same time?
The first and second encounters, on 14 &15 Nov, were on Blue Pool trail ,
probably involving the same party of lyrebirds as they occurred in the same
vicinity. The third encounter on 15 Nov, was close to the beginning of the
Border Track and involved a female which was seen in the open at less than
3 m away.
On the second encounter (at about 0630 hrs) during which a male was seen
displaying, there were at least 3 possibly 4 birds altogether. I first
became aware of their presence from calls coming from a gully. The calls
began with loud grunts and was followed by a series of melodious notes. I
managed to sight the party of lyrebirds about 60 m away in the gully at the
base of a large tree and they were seen to be scraping the leaf litter and
moving together. During an observation time of about 20 mins a male was
seen displaying several times, throwing the tail feathers over its back and
moving its legs as in a little dance. I noted the conspicuous rufous vent
(like a powder puff) exposed when the bird was displaying. These displays
were quite brief and as far as I can see did not result in any matings. I
could not see any sign of a mound or display platform. IMHO the displays
were just "feeding" (for want of a proper term as I'm no scientist)
displays that you sometimes observe a cock perform when foraging around
with a flock of hens. Any comments would be very welcome.
Cheers!
Kim
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Kim-Chye Lim (Mr)
1/117 Hubert Street
East Vic Park WA 6101
AUSTRALIA
Tel: (09) 472 3392 (H)
(09) 387 0745 (W)
Email:
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