Tuesday Trivia.

"I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something." Richard Feynman

When we were courting Dearest & I spent a lot of time in the 2nd oldest National Park in the world [only Yellowstone is older], the Royal National Park on the southern outskirts of Sydney, partly because it was local for us & partly because it is a most extraordinary environment & is now a World Heritage listed park.  We would arrive late in the afternoon, just as everyone else was packing up to leave to walk & picnic in relative peace.  It was on one of these excursions we were treated to a most extraordinary display.

Lyre birds are notoriously shy.  Even if they are around most people won't realise it because they are one of the world's greatest mimickers.  Not only do they mimick other bird's songs they can duplicate the sound of a chainsaw or drill, the thwack of hammer & nails, the car alarm, a transistor radio, & even the human voice. They really are astounding.  They are almost never seen singly & never in groups.

On this particular day we were sitting quiely at a picnic table just enjoying the solitude when a group of young birds suddenly appeared frolicking & gamboling like the funniest of clowns.  We were delighted & absolutely rivited.  They were real show~offs!  I don't know why but they had absoluely no fear of us & came right up to our table & were prancing all around us.  Not even the arrival of more people frightened them off but though the others tried very hard to tempt them closer they remained round us until they went carousing off through the scrub as they chased each other over the hill & far away.

The lyre bird is known for 2 things: the males' suburb tail feathers used in his mating display & the mimicry with which he calls in order to attract a mate.  Winter is the time they build a mound in an open space & begin their mating rituals.  The female is also a mimic but calls less frequently & does not have the wonderful tail feathers being a rather plump, dowdy little bird looking more like a sad little chook than anything else. She builds a messy nest on the ground for her single egg & is a sole parent, incubating her egg for 50 days & rasing her chick without help from the male.

These amazing birds have been known to shelter in wombat holes or join miners down mine shafts when threatened by bush fires.  Their syrinx is the most complexly muscled of any of the passerines [song birds] giving them extraordinary range & ability.  Mr Wiki gives some extraordinary antedotal evidence about some of the sounds these birds are capable of & for your enjoyment I include this you~tube clip.