First recordings
Here is a sample from our first set of pilot recordings!
Lyrebirds have an enormous dynamic range, meaning they can produce very quiet sounds followed by extremely loud noises. That means we have to get our recording setup just right to capture their sound.
What we've done here is place 2 recorders in the same location to try out two different gain settings. Both of the recorders were tied to the same tree about 1 meter away from a lyrebird display mound (in the ferns on the left). Here's a photo of the setup:
These are remote recording devices. You tie them to a tree, walk away, let them run for weeks, and then come back and see what sounds they captured. Currently, it's not lyrebird breeding season so we aren't going to capture any full display songs (which can go for 45 minutes and longer). But I noticed that this display mound was raked clean and still seemed to be in use, so I put the recorders here to see what we could hear. On October 31, 2023 around 5:45pm we managed to capture a short burst of display song. Keep in mind - everything you hear in the foreground of this recording is coming from one lyrebird!
Please make sure your volume is on low because this bird gets loud! This clip is from the recorder with the lowest gain setting and the loudest sounds are still clipped very badly. That means I'll need to put the recorders farther away from the display mound next time.
Play-by-play account of what's in the recording:
0:05 A lyrebird walks onto the display mound 0:15 It ruffles its feathers 0:18 It starts to sing 0:20 It sings its territorial song 0:55 It mimics a kookaburra (or two) 1:06 It mimics an eastern whip bird 1:15 It mimics a flock of crimson rosellas 1:33 Things get wild. It launches into a short burst of its display song and dance 2:30 The song ends and the lyrebird walks around, maybe fixing up its display mound
Here are a few spectrograms showing some of the sounds we heard:
The notes of the lyrebird's display song are its own species-typical song. A lot of people mistaken these notes as mimicry of things like car alarms, electronic games, and space lasers (from... outer space?), but lyrebirds probably came up with these sounds themselves.
It's amazing the amount of detail we are able to hear in the complex notes of the display song. At least that's one good thing about having used a gain setting that was too high!
That's all for now - back to the forest!
This research is being conducted under the University of Melbourne's Animal Ethics Committee approval # 2023-27945-44888-2 and Parks Victoria research permit number # AA-0001297. The recording devices were generously provided by Wildlife Acoustics through their equipment grant program.
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