Song and Dance

I set a camera trap at a Superb Lyrebird display mound over two weeks in July (13-31^st) and was successful in recording some wonderful song and dancing displays. Male lyrebirds display from a number of display mounds within their territory and females are attracted to them by the song first and then song and dance once they are visible as females approach through the thick undergrowth. The repertoire of the bird’s mimicry of other birds’ calls is, as its name suggests, superb, and enthralling. And how he holds and spreads his elaborate tail feathers is just as mesmerising. Follow this Video link to see a compilation of some of the sequences.

The females lay their eggs in winter, so these displays are performed during the cold months and I have watched them display in the snow. The males play no part in the nest building, incubation or tending of the young. The sexes only meet up for the purpose of mating.

Superb Lyrebirds are famous for their mimicry and although there are well-known film clips of birds imitating cameras and chainsaws, most of the sounds that wild lyrebirds copy are of other local birds that live in the same tall forests. I have only heard one bird imitate a knocking sound that resembled someone hammering on wood, which the bird could easily have heard in the forest. That bird was in the forest of the Brindabella Range near Canberra, the same area where this footage was recorded. It is always a pleasant walk along the tracks in the forest, where the lyrebirds can be frequently heard, but seldom seen as they place their display mounds in dense overgrowth. Hence the reason I deployed the camera, to see what was going on in there…

Male superb lyrebirds sing four different song types with unique associated sets of dance moves, but the individual birds vary their songs and steps and they don’t always dance when they sing (Dalziell et al. 2013, below). As can be seen in this video, they also sing without even raising their tail. The whole sequence of the different songs and dances is very elaborate, but purposeful. As these displays form part of the sexual behaviour, there is probably a strong impulse for the males to sing and dance their best to attract a female.   

Lyrebirds can sing with mimicry away from the mound, such as up on tree branches or logs, but they don’t give mimicry segments of their song while dancing. When singing his full repertoire of mimicry the male in the video stood quite still, and it was once he pulled his tail right over his back and head that he began to dance. This was induced by the presence of a female off camera, and he held that pose and dance sequence all the while a female was with him on or near the mound. In one sequence, he backs off the mound, followed by a female, perhaps, the birds copulated on another mound not far from the one where the camera was set. Each male hase several mounds where they display.

I have not yet worked out the complete list of the bird calls that the lyrebird mimicked, but the main song, mixed with the lyrebird’s own specific song, includes: Yellow-tailed Cockatoo, Laughing Kookaburra, Pied Currawong, Crimson Rosella, Red Wattlebird, Satin Bowerbird and Grey Shrike-thrush. During the intense dances when his tail is fully pulled over, the bird does not mimic these calls, but gives a frantic array of buzzing alarm calls, mimics of the alarm calls of the smaller ground dwelling birds such as White-browed Scrubwren, Brown Thornbill and Eastern Yellow Robin. He even mimics the burring of bird wings, such as when birds mob a predator.

For a more full explanation of  Superb Lyrebird display see these papers by Anastasia Dalziell et al. upon which I have relied heavily in describing the details of the bird’s behaviour in this video. 

Dalziell, A.H., Ppeters, R.A., Cockburn,A. Dorland, A.D., Maisey, A.C., & Magrath, R.D. (2013). Dance choreography is coordinated with song repertoire in a complex avian display. Current Biology 23: 1132-1135. https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(13)00581-2.pdf 

Dalziell, A.H., Maisey, A.C., Magrath, R.D., & Welbergen, J.A. (2021). Male lyrebirds create a complex acoustic illusion of a mobbing flock during courtship and copulation. Current Biology 31: 1970-1976. https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(21)00210-4.pdf

Dalziell, A.H., Welbergen, J.A., & Magrath, R.D. (2022). Male superb lyrebirds mimic functionally distinct heterospecific vocalisations during different modes of sexual display. Animal Behaviour 188: 181-196.   https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/am/pii/S000334722200094X

 

Footprints in the snow

A snow-covered track through the forest

It is now Spring down on the plains and winter seems long ago. Yet it was only a week or so since I was up monitoring Superb Lyrebirds on the high slopes of the Brindabella range west of Canberra, and it was snowing. Fresh snow always adds another dimension to a day out and also a quick and easy method of determining what animals are about as any that walk must leave prints behind.

Lyrebird footprints on the left, fox on the right

Unfortunately the first species I found tracks of was Red Fox, an introduced pest species. I am familiar with these from years spent in Scotland where I have seen countless such tracks while exploring the Highlands in winter. Fox prints are easily recognised by the straight line followed, often along a track as with most predators which patrol large areas in search of prey. They like us, probably use these routes for quick direct access to and from their dens. Local foxes would be familiar with all such features in their territories. The prints are small prints, with four pointed toes tightly set and the hind paws fall neatly into the mark of the front paws, leaving only a single set of paw marks per stride.

Fox prints fall on top of one another when trotting like this one was

There were a few prints from unidentifiable small birds, but none from any other mammals or marsupials. The next obvious trail I found was of a lyrebird. Again, set in a straight line as it had walked along the road, but not for far. The fox had walked for over a kilometre along the path, the lyrebird only for several metres as it had stepped out of the thick scrub on one side of the track, along the line, then down into the scrub on the other side.

Lyrebirds take long strides when walking quickly

The lyrebird's stride was short initially as it left the cover, it lengthened as it entered open ground, then its steps shortened as it pecked for food on the edge before disappearing into thick cover again. As a bird of dense forest it would likely feel exposed and vulnerable to predators while in the open, so was likely in a hurry to regain shelter from the thick scrub.

Prints tell more than just who made them.

The distinctive outline of a lyrebird footprint - three long toes forward, one backward