Superb Lyrebird

Over the years, much has been written about the lyrebird in all sorts of places. For an interesting perspective of the early research into lyrebird ecology you could hardly do worse than visit The Iconic Lyrebird page of the Victorian Collections website.

I enjoyed about 5 minutes of being up close and personal to a Superb Lyrebird at Mt Worth State Park very recently.

There were a couple of birds calling within close proximity and eventually one broke cover and strolled right past me as though I wasn’t present.

Early settlers allotted all sorts of names to this new bird: pheasant, lyre-pheasant, lyre-tailed pheasant, native or wood-pheasant and eventually Lyrebird. Strangely, the bird apparently never does hold its tail erect in the classic lyre shape depicted in many early drawings.

The genus ‘menura’ = ‘moon tail’ and the species ‘novaehollandiae’ = ‘new holland’ an old name for Australia. Thus, the Superb Lyrebird, Menura novaehollandiae is the Australian moon-tailed pheasant-like bird. I can’t quite see it but ostensibly the outer tail markings are meant to look like the crescents of the moon.

In 2020, researchers from Latrobe University found that lyrebirds displace an average of 155 tonnes of earth and leaf litter per hectare in one year earning the bird the title of ecosystem engineer.

The Superb Lyrebird is largely a solitary bird and bushfire is one of its greatest threats. In January 2020, during a bushfire at Wollombi in NSW, at least 11 birds congregated at a dam for refuge. There’s a remarkable image and story on an ABC News website.

Another informative ABC article by Dr Ann Jones of What the Duck fame, sorts some fact from fiction in relation to lyrebird mimicry.

The Superb Lyrebird is relatively common in our wet forest regions of south-eastern Victoria and southern NSW. However, given climate change and land clearing processes, there is some concern for this iconic bird’s secure status.