Meet the Lyrebird… The male’s massive tail impresses with its remarkable beauty as it spreads out to flirt.

The Superb Lyrebird has the appearance of a huge brown pheasant. The wings are rufous, while the bill, legs, and feet are black. The adult male has an elaborate tail with peculiar curled feathers that, when displayed, resemble a lyre. Females and young males have lengthy tails but lack the specialist feathers.Forests that are wet. It lives on the ground in damp woodlands but roosts in trees at night.

Birds are sedentary, rarely travelling long distances and often residing in a 10-kilometer-diameter home range.Southern Tasmania and the southern Australian mainland.Superb Lyrebirds eat insects, spiders, worms, and seeds on occasion. It forages for food by scratching through the leaf litter with its foot. Birds forage alone most of the time, but females and young males may be spotted grazing together.

The song of the Superb Lyrebird is well-known. Approximately 80% of the song is expert impersonation, with both and joining together in a thrilling medley. Anything heard in the bird’s immediate environs, such as chainsaws, automobile engines, dog barks, and local native birds, can be considered sounds. In addition to a loud warning screech, the Superb Lyrebird makes a succession of whistles and cackling notes as territorial calls.

Each year, superb lyrebirds breed from April to October (the season is significantly shorter in the north of its range). The male establishes a territory by singing and dancing atop one of numerous mounds within it, while throwing his tail forward over his body and waving it in display. The male will mate with a number of females.

The female is the only one who constructs the nest, incubates the eggs, and looks after the young.Breeding season: April to October (a little shorter in the north).P.J. Higgins, J.M. Peter, and W.K. Steele (eds.) 2001. Volume 5 of the Handbook of Australian, New Zealand, and Antarctic Birds (Tyrant-flycatchers through Chats). Melbourne: Oxford University Press.R. Strahan (ed.) 1994.

Australia’s Cuckoos, Nightbirds, and Kingfishers. Australian Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife, Angus and Robertson, Sydney.Discover the wonderful world of Australian wildlife by diving into The Birds of Australia online publication. Follow ornithologist John Gould and his wife Elizabeth on one of the most famous birding excursions in history and learn about Australia’s distinctive and diverse bird species.