I was walking in the Dandenongs with my kids the other day and told them of the extraordinary capacity of the lyrebird for imitating the sounds it hears in the bush (not much in the way of human speech unlike parrots). I don't know if they believed me about its virtuosity, but having seen and heard this video, they do now.
Courtesy of one of Google's newer toys you can have a squiz yourself. Enjoy
Wow! That's absolutely amazing! I hope he got a root. He certainly worked hard for it.
The lyrebird, I mean, not David Attenborough. He's well past that sort of thing.
I think David Attenborough actually gets more satisfaction from this kind of thing than the other.
Nick, how can I get the video?
Chris, you go to www.video.google.com and then search for lyrebird where you see quite a few videos to choose from, all of the same clip.
I gotta say - I almost thought this was a hoax, especially when it gets onto the chain saw. I was kinda expecting the lyrebird to break into a David Attenborough impersonation at the end.
I've heard them do this - particularly the chain saws and that's what they sound like (though admitedly not quite as good as on the clip).
They seem to like the bit at the beginning when the chain saws echo around the forrest - they mimic all that and a rev or two. I guess it's like birdcalls to your average lyrebird anyway. And they don't seem to do human voices - never heard any do them anyway.
I hope you are not lyreing
Not one of your best, Homer.
When my father lived up in the hills north of Warragul, a lyrebird used to fool visitors into thinking he (my father) was at home, by giving a very convincing imitation of him practicing the cornet.