The amazing Lyrebird

The superb lyrebird is one of Australia’s most extraordinary birds: a shy, secretive creature of the forest floor with an almost magical gift for mimicry. It can reproduce the calls of other birds with remarkable precision—and sometimes even human-made sounds such as camera shutters, alarms and chainsaws—folding them into its own elaborate song. While the laughing kookaburra is officially NSW’s bird emblem, the lyrebird is the emblem of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, and it feels every bit as symbolic of the Australian bush. I have seen them several times in the Royal National Park, usually slipping quietly through the leaf litter or suddenly revealing themselves among the ferns, and every encounter gives me a real thrill.

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