A lyrebird is either of two species of ground-dwelling Australian birds that compose the genus Menura, and the family Menuridae. They are most notable for their ability to mimic a variety of natural and artificial sounds from their environment and for the striking beauty of the male bird's huge tail when it is fanned out in courtship display. Lyrebirds have unique plumes of neutral-coloured tailfeathers and are among Australia's best-known native birds.
Taxonomy
The classification of lyrebirds was the subject of much debate after the first specimens reached European scientists after 1798. Based on specimens sent from New South Wales to England, Major-General Thomas Davies illustrated and described this species as the superb lyrebird, which he called Menura superba, in an 1800 presentation to the Linnean Society of London. This work was not published until 1802, though, and in the intervening time, the species was described and named Menura novaehollandiae by John Latham in 1801, and this is the accepted name by virtue of nomenclatural priority. The genus name Menura refers to the pattern of repeated transparent crescents (or "lunules") on the superb lyrebird's outer tail feathers, from the Ancient Greek words μήνη mēnē "moon" and ουρά ourá "tail". Lyrebirds are named because their outer tail feathers are broad and curved in a S-shape that together resemble the shape of a lyre.
Systematics Lyrebirds were thought to be Galliformes like the broadly similar-looking partridge, junglefowl, and pheasants familiar to Europeans, as reflected in the early names given to the superb lyrebird, including native pheasant. They were also called peacock-wrens and Australian birds-of-paradise. The idea that they were related to the pheasants was abandoned when the first chicks, which are altricial, were described. They were not classed with the passerines until a paper was published in 1840, about 12 years after they were assigned a discrete family, the Menuridae. Within that family, they comprise a single genus, Menura. The lyrebird family is generally accepted to be most closely related to the scrub-birds (Atrichornithidae), and some authorities combine both in a single family, but evidence that they are also related to the bowerbirds remains controversial. Lyrebirds are ancient Australian animals; the Australian Museum has fossils of lyrebirds dating back about 15 million years. The prehistoric Menura tyawanoides has been described from Early Miocene fossils found at the famous Riversleigh site.
Species Two species of lyrebird are extant:
Description
The lyrebirds are large passerine birds, among the largest in the order. They are ground-living birds with strong legs and feet and short, rounded wings. They are poor fliers and rarely fly except for periods of downhill gliding. The superb lyrebird is the larger of the two species. Lyrebirds measure 31 to 39 inches in length, including their tails. Males tend to be slightly larger than females. Females weigh around 2.0 pounds, and males weigh around 2.4 pounds.
Distribution and habitat The superb lyrebird is found in areas of rainforest in Victoria, New South Wales, and south-east Queensland. It is also found in Tasmania, where it was introduced in the 19th century. Many superb lyrebirds live in the Dandenong Ranges National Park and Kinglake National Park around Melbourne, the Royal National Park and Illawarra region south of Sydney, many other parks along the east coast of Australia, and unprotected bushland. Albert's lyrebird is found only in a small area of southern Queensland rainforest.
Behaviour and ecology Lyrebirds are shy and difficult to approach, particularly Albert's lyrebird, so little information about its behaviour has been documented. When lyrebirds detect potential danger, they pause and scan the surroundings, sound an alarm, and either flee the area on foot or seek cover and freeze. Firefighters sheltering in mine shafts during bushfires have been joined by lyrebirds.
Diet and feeding
Lyrebirds feed on the ground, usually as individuals. A range of invertebrate prey is taken, including insects such as cockroaches, beetles (both adults and larvae), earwigs, fly larvae, and the adults and larvae of moths. Other prey taken includes centipedes, spiders, and earthworms. Less commonly taken prey includes stick insects, bugs, amphipods, lizards, frogs, and occasionally seeds. They find food by scratching with their feet through the leaf litter. Mixing and aerating soil and leaf litter while scratching for food amounts to a form of ecosystem engineering, or farming; foraging by superb lyrebirds has been shown to thus create microhabitats, which nurture larger and more abundant prey. This activity also improves forest health by burying potential wildfire fuel and by measurably increasing the diversity of invertebrates. Such positive effects cover millions of hectares of land.
Breeding
Lyrebirds live as long as 30 years. They have long breeding cycles and start breeding later in life than other passerine birds. Female superb lyrebirds start breeding at the age of five or six, and males at the age of six to eight. Males defend territories from other males, and those territories may contain the breeding territories of up to eight females. Within the male territories, the males create or use display platforms; for the superb lyrebird, this is a mound of bare soil; for the Albert's lyrebird, it is a pile of twigs on the forest floor. Male lyrebirds call mostly during winter, when they construct and maintain an open arena-mound in dense bush, on which they sing and dance in an elaborate courtship display performed for potential mates, of which the male lyrebird has several. The strength, volume, and location of the nest built by the female lyrebird is dependent on the rainfall and predation during the nest-building period. The nest must be water resistant and hidden in secluded areas so predators cannot attack. Once the nest is made in the preferred location, the female lyrebird lays a single egg. The egg is incubated over 50 days solely by the female, and the female also fosters the chick alone.
Vocalizations and mimicry
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