Many years ago, when I was a lot fitter than I am now, I was bushwalking in
the Cathedral Range (Vic) with my husband. We were camping at "The Saddle"
with no other campers in sight. I was sitting quietly listening to the
variety of calls made by a Superb Lyrebird when I was amazed to hear the
distinct sound of tent pegs being hammered into the ground by a metal
hammer.
There was no other camper in sight and there was no other bit of ground flat
enough to put up a tent for miles around and I even searched during the
evening for sighs of another camp fire. So I can only conclude that the
Lyrebird made the sounds.
Val
---- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Charles" <>
To: "Carl Clifford" <>
Cc: "Birding-aus (E-mail)" <>
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2007 9:53 PM
Subject: Mimicry by Magpie/Lyrebirds
The thread regarding Richard Attenborough's footage of the Lyrebird
reminds me of the period I lived in Brunei, Borneo during the late 70's &
early 80's.
Sir RA based several of his episodes of his then current wildlife
programme on the tropical rainforest. The flying snake & the weaver ant
were two species found in Brunei that were to feature. The final footage
of the weaver ant episode showed RA soaked in with sweat crawling through
the mangrove swamp mud at night & breathlessly whispering to the camera
that at last the long ordeal was finally rewarded as just ahead was the
fabled weaver ant nest. The reality was that the production team had put
a lead light over the back fence of my colleagues house & the action
happened within 10 metres of all the airconditioned comforts of home.
The flying snake was captured by an Iban hunter in the hinterland forest
& was brought to town for the film sequence. It was taken out to the
airfield (where else) where there was a water tower & the cameras were
set up. The foreshortening effect of the telephotos brought the distant
background of trees close to the action & when all set the flying snake
was thrown off the water tower & its 'flight' followed by the cameras.
However it did not do its body flattening aerofoil gliding thing but fell
to the grass heavily where it was recaptured. Several attempts were made
without any improvement & the snake was looking a bit stunned. Finally
someone conned a weather balloon from the met man & a radio controlled
release was organised for the attached snake. The balloon reached about
250m before the snake was released in a do-or-die effort. The snake
dropped like a stone until perhaps it realised that it was it that had to
do-or-die & finally assumed the gliding position. The final footage
showed the snake gliding within a rainforest setting.
However these are the production shortcuts that a generation of
conservation consciousness is foundered on.
What was the truth of the chainsaw Superberb Lyrebird call? Hard to know
from the you-tube clip but recently at Patonga on NSW Central Coast I was
watching an LB in a gully above a car park. The LB went through his
repertoire of Kookaburra, Glossy Black Cockatoo, Currarong & Whipbird
calls filling the gully with his vibrant voice. He stopped & raked
through the leaf mulch & shortly after a large dog started barking in the
carpark. The LB stopped & listened & when the dog had finished the LB
commenced rehearsing "Woof Woof, Woof Woof" quietly under his breath. So
not sure I see a distinction between mechanical & other sounds not
normally part of the traditional environment.
Cheers,
Chris Charles
On 09/04/2007, at 10:36 AM, Carl Clifford wrote:
So, does that mean that the David Attenbourough footage of a Lyrebird
imitating a camera shutter release. motor drive and a chain-saw was a
fake ?
Carl Clifford
On 09/04/2007, at 12:24 AM, Syd Curtis wrote:
"May I repeat Norman's plea: If anyone has a recording of a lyrebird
in the
wild, imitating mechanical sounds, I would be grateful to hear from
them."
Cheers
Syd
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