Thursday, October 27, 2016

The Lyre bird






An Amazing Bird...

........ in Australia. You won't believe all the sounds he can make!  


                                                              

Lyrebirds are found along the coast of Australia. They also live in Tasmania, and love dampened forests or wetlands, which are hard to traverse.
They are superb at imitating other birds and in many cases can fool even the most experienced bird watcher with the many bird cries they can imitate, so that they think they are hearing an entirely different bird.
Lyre birds eat from the ground, using their claws to rake over the leaves and soil searching for worms, any insects and sometimes invertebrates’ snails and other small ground creatures.
They have very long claws and strong feet and legs which aid them in the task of looking for food.
One very interesting thing about the Lyrebird is the way they court their mates.

Lyre Bird
The male Lyre bird will build a tall mount of grass and dirt, which he will them climb and stand on. He spreads his tail feathers straight up and over his head, which being shaped like the musical instrument for which the bird is named, look like a lyre.


The only time he will spread his tail is for mating rituals.
While he is doing this, he will mimic the sounds of other birds and sing songs as he moves in circles dancing to attract the female.
Once a female is interested, they will breed anytime from May to August.
Male Lyrebirds may have more than one mate at any given time.
The female Lyrebird then weaves the nest and lays one brown spotted egg.
No assistance is given in either nesting or in rearing the young by the male bird.
The single egg takes about 6 weeks to hatch and the new baby chick is covered in snow white down.
He will stay in the nest for about ten weeks before flying off on his own.




:o)






8 comments :

  1. Beautiful boid. Thought of your gang when their eating behavior was described.
    Does Charlie dance?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The gang eats the same way - Nothing larger than them is safe! Charlie DOES dance. Will try to have the trusty camera ready when he does!

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. Aren't those feathers beautiful, Gorges? Such a pretty bird!

      Delete
  3. Another factoid; They collect interesting thing to decorate their courting arena. Blue is the preferred color. Rings from milk bottles, bottle caps, shells and other unusual bits. The nest isn't the normal looking circle, it is upright and looks like an open topped tunnel made of grass. Fascinating to discover while bush walking. Thanks for sharing the info about a lovely and somewhat eccentric bird.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow! It must have been wonderful to see them in the wild! Lucky you! Our crows will pickup small things like that, too.

      Delete
  4. Oops, my mistake. Confused the Lyrebird with a Bower bird. Both species are unique in a down under sort of way.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No problem, Granny. I looked up the Bower bird and it is a beauty! Will do a post on it sometime next week with a big H/T to you! Thanks! :o)

      Delete