Lyrebird

Lyrebirds are found along the coast of Australia. They also life 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.

Lyrebirds 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 Lyrebird 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.

Aren’t you glad that courting a female human doesn’t take this amount of effort?

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.

Find out more about the Lyrebird over at Wikipedia »