I recently had the pleasure of taking two American visitors to Lamington
National Park for a couple of days. They had come to Australia because of a
particular interest in lyrebirds. After hearing Albert's in Lamington they
were going to Victoria to visit Healesville and Sherbrooke Forest for
Superbs.
I was asked what did I think of the argument that all songbirds originated
in Australia and that the lyrebird is the "oldest" songbird?
Being a lyrebird addict from way back, I like the idea, but that doesn't
make it correct, and I have no expertise in evolution generally or birds in
particular. I did point out that lyrebirds and scrubbirds have fewer
syringeal muscles than the general run of Oscines, and that it seemed to me
that evolution towards a more complex syrinx was more likely than the
reverse. But really, I'm right out of my depth here.
Now I'm intrigued. I'd be most grateful for comment from any birding-aus
experts.
TIA
Syd Curtis in Brisbane.
PS And BTW I also like the idea that flying-foxes (fruit-bats) are primates
that evolved flight rather than bats that became vegetarians.
S
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