birding-aus

Re: Life of Birds and Lyrebirds

To: Richard Jordan <>
Subject: Re: Life of Birds and Lyrebirds
From: Brian Fleming <>
Date: Sun, 03 Jan 1999 17:10:28 +1100
Richard Jordan wrote:
> 
> Hi everyone
> 
> I am just back from tour, and catching up on the lyrebird news. As
> luck
> would have it, I have been given for Christmas the book 'Life of
> Birds' by
> David Attenborough.
> 
> On Page 213 I find the following:
> "------ a skilled ornithologist may be able to recognise the songs of
> over a
> dozen other birds embedded in the lyrebird's incomparable recitals.
> Some
> individuals have territories close to those occupied by human beings
> and
> they incorporate the new sounds they hear coming from across their
> frontiers. So they include in their performances accurate imitations
> of such
> things as spot-welding machines, burglar alarms and the camera motor
> drives."
> 
> So it seems that there was no treachery by the Attenborough team -
> possibly
> just inaccurate advice from those they consulted. The film crew
> probably
> just did not realise the significance of the fact that the bird they
> heard
> making mechanical sounds was in captivity. Unfortunately it means that
> folklore regarding the mechanical sounds mimicked by lyrebirds will be
> perpetuated for evermore now that it is enshrined in both Attenborough
> print
> and Attenborough video. And it was such a shame that the motor drive
> was
> considered more film-worthy than the magnificent bird-mimicry in the
> song of
> the wild bird. And, of course, there still remains the unresolved
> matter of
> the chainsaw!!
> 
> To keep such matters in proportion I think we should realise that such
> videos and books have a dramatic influence in bringing birds into the
> lives
> of ordinary people - and that this is an overwheming positive. But we
> should, perhaps, always be a little sceptical of what we see.
> 
> Richard
> 
> Richard Jordan
> PO Box 4
> Jamberoo, NSW 2533, Australia
> 
> phone +61 2 42 360542
> fax   +61 2 42 360176
> Email  
> 'Web'  http://www.ozemail.com.au/~emutours/
The latest issue of 'Australian Nature' published quarterly by
Australian Museum (Sydney)has a letter from a reader who lives on close
terms with Lyrebirds in NSW. She points out that song quality in local
population declined markedly when several older 'expert' birds
disappeared and only younger birds were left - fewer species mimicked
and not well integrated musically.  Quality improved with time. She also
gave two examples of mimicry of non-natural sounds - a tractor's engine,
and her own attempt to sing part of Beethoven's 9th Symphony! Both these
were one-offs.  She also tells of a Lyrebird apparently playing on a
large vegetable marrow as it rolled downhill. Very interesting account
which I see no reason to disbelieve.
  I recall correspondents of the old Crosbie Morrison magazine 'Wildlife
in Australia' discussing whether Lyrebirds imitated non-natural sounds.
One quoted an Albert Lyrebird's imitation of horses crossing a ford in a
creek - complete with splashes, snorting and blowing, and horseshoes
clinking on the stones. Bush folklore includes the tale of the sawmill
workers turning out hours early because the sawmill's hooter was
mimicked by a Lyrebird with no sense of time.
  Anthea Fleming in Melbourne

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