Superb Lyrebird - male

Description:

A pheasant-sized bird with a grey coloured head, graduated grey-rusty brown back and wing feathers. The long tail of the male bird is the most beautiful part of the bird with the outer two thicker feathers with alternate white and brown patches looking like the frame of a Lyre with a curl at the ends and the inner feathers looking like strings.

Habitat:

Damp eucalyptus forests, wetlands and rainforests in areas fairly difficult to access.

Notes:

After an hour of spotting beautiful and interesting mushrooms - this was a bonus!!!. Never thought we'd (my husband and I) see this bird at mid-day on a 28 deg day. He was not quite aware of us but knew there was some movement around. He was busy hunting for food scratching the damp ground beside a forest creek. I took almost 13 shots but was trembling with excitement so much that I had to lean on a tree to steady myself - only these four shots were passable. Also, he kept moving in and out of the sunlight so often that I could not get his beautiful tail feathers in focus. Anyway, I hope you enjoy these shots and read more about this very interesting bird and how he is a master of mimicry !! Another species, Albert's Lyrebird is rarer and restricted to the subtropical rainforests in a small area in New South Wales and Queensland. These are found only in Australia. For a spotting of the female, go to http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/783...