Animal
Superb lyrebird
The superb lyrebird is a big brown bird from Australia. It can copy almost any sound it hears, from other birds to a chainsaw!
The superb lyrebird is a large, ground-living songbird of Australia's moist forests. It is a famous copycat: most of its song is made of sounds borrowed from other birds and even machines. The male has a spectacular tail that he throws over his head as he dances and sings.
Menura novaehollandiae is a large songbird of south-eastern Australia's moist forests. About 80 percent of its song is mimicry of natural and mechanical sounds. Males display on dirt mounds with an elaborate lyre-shaped tail; females raise a single chick alone. It is listed as Least Concern, though its population is thought to be decreasing.
Photo: CSIRO, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the superb lyrebird
The superb lyrebird is a big brown bird from Australia.
It walks on the forest floor. It can copy other birds' songs, and even the sound of a chainsaw! Press play to hear a real lyrebird singing.
The superb lyrebird looks a bit like a large brown pheasant, about 80 to 100 centimeters long including its tail. It spends most of its time on the ground in Australia's damp forests.
It is an amazing copycat. About 80 percent of its song is made of sounds it has heard, from other birds to car engines and chainsaws, joined together in one long medley. Press play to hear a real lyrebird singing in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales.
Menura novaehollandiae, one of two lyrebirds in the family Menuridae, is a pheasant-sized, ground-dwelling songbird. Adults are 80 to 100 centimeters long including the tail; Wikidata, citing the Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds, gives adult weights of about 1.1 kilograms for males and 0.86 kilograms for females.
Birds in Backyards estimates that about 80 percent of its song is mimicry of natural and mechanical sounds, combined into a medley, alongside its own whistles, cackling territorial calls and a loud alarm shriek. The recording on this step was made at Faulconbridge in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, and labeled by its recordist as a male's song.
Quick facts
- Group
- Bird
- Length
- 0.8 to 1 m
- Weight
- 0.86 to 1.1 kg
Where it lives
Lyrebirds live in Australia.
They live in cool, damp forests with lots of fallen leaves. At night they fly up to sleep in the trees.
Superb lyrebirds live in south-eastern Australia, in moist forests and cool, shady gullies with lots of leaf litter on the ground. People also brought some to the south of Tasmania, where they now live wild.
Lyrebirds walk and run on the forest floor and rarely fly far, but at night they flutter up to roost in trees. They stay in the same patch of forest, usually within an area about 10 kilometers across.
The IUCN assessment lists the species only for Australia. The Australian Museum and Birds in Backyards describe its distribution as the south-eastern Australian mainland and southern Tasmania; Wildlife Victoria notes that the Tasmanian birds were introduced. In Victoria it lives mostly in the east of the state.
It is a ground-dwelling bird of moist forests and cool gullies with deep leaf litter, roosting in trees at night. Birds are sedentary, rarely moving far and generally staying within a home range about 10 kilometers in diameter.
Continent
Its habitat
Where can you find this animal?
- Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Moist forests and cool gullies of the south-eastern Australian mainland; birds in southern Tasmania were introduced by people.
Places: Australia.
Source: iucn-red-list · checked October 2026
Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Counts of GBIF records of wild observations (human and machine) and preserved specimens. Records include introduced populations, vagrants, escaped or released animals and misidentifications, so a country with records is not necessarily part of the native range.
Wild sightings have been recorded in Australia, Greece, New Zealand and United States.
Source: gbif · checked October 2026
Range maps show where scientists say an animal lives, often country by country. An animal may live in only part of a country shown, and sightings records can include animals that wandered far from home.
What it eats
Lyrebirds scratch the ground with their big feet.
They find worms, spiders and bugs under the leaves. Sometimes they eat seeds.
Lyrebirds eat insects, spiders, worms and other small creatures, and sometimes frogs, seeds and fungi. To find them, a lyrebird rakes through the leaf litter and soil with its strong feet and long claws.
All that scratching helps the forest. Turning over the soil mixes in nutrients and spreads seeds around. Lyrebirds usually feed alone, though females and young males sometimes feed together.
The diet is mainly invertebrates, including insects, spiders and worms, with occasional seeds (Australian Museum); Wildlife Victoria adds frogs and fungi. Birds forage by scratching through leaf litter and soil with powerful feet and long claws.
Foraging usually happens alone, although females and young males may feed together. Wildlife Victoria notes that this constant turning of the soil helps cycle nutrients and disperse seeds, giving the lyrebird an important role in its forest.
Did you know?
There is a lyrebird on an Australian coin.
The superb lyrebird appears on the Australian 10-cent coin.
The lyrebird features on Australia's 10-cent coin (Wildlife Victoria).
A tail like a lyre
The lyrebird has a long tail with fancy feathers.
When the father bird dances, he lifts his tail over his head. It looks like a harp called a lyre.
The lyrebird is named after its tail. A grown-up male has 16 special tail feathers, more than half a meter long. In the photo, curved outer feathers with brown and pale orange bands frame many lacy silver plumes. When he lifts them over his head in a dance, they look like a lyre, an old kind of harp.
Females and young males have long tails too, but without the special curved feathers. Both have rusty-brown wings and black bills, legs and feet. Their wings are weak, so they rarely fly.
Plumage is dark brown, with rufous wings and throat; the bill, legs and feet are black. Adult males carry an ornate tail of 16 feathers (Wildlife Victoria), about 55 centimeters long according to the NSW Government and up to 70 centimeters according to Wildlife Victoria, including curved outer feathers that, in display, take the shape of a lyre; females and young males have long tails without these specialized feathers, and females are smaller.
The wings are weak and the bird rarely flies, though it roosts in trees. It uses its powerful legs and long claws to rake the forest floor for food. The lyrebird appears on the Australian 10-cent coin.
One egg at a time
The mother lyrebird builds a round nest with a roof.
She lays just one egg. She keeps it warm for a long time, about six or seven weeks. Then she looks after her chick all by herself.
Lyrebirds breed from April to October, Australia's cooler months. The female builds a dome-shaped nest of sticks, ferns, roots and feathers, and lays just one egg.
She keeps it warm by herself, and it hatches after about six or seven weeks. The chick stays in the nest for six weeks or more, and the mother raises it alone. She even has special calls for talking with her chick.
The breeding season runs from April to October, slightly shorter in the north of the range. The female alone builds the nest, incubates and raises the young (Australian Museum). The nest is a domed structure of sticks lined with ferns, feathers, moss and rootlets, and usually holds a single egg. Sources differ on timing: the NSW Government gives around six weeks of incubation and 6 to 10 weeks in the nest, while Wildlife Victoria gives roughly 50 days and six weeks.
With a single egg, a long incubation and care by one parent, lyrebirds raise young slowly. The IUCN gives a generation length of 11.1 years, compared with 2.7 years for the common nightingale.
Song and dance
In winter, the father lyrebird dances on a little hill of dirt.
He throws his tail over his head and shakes it. He sings and copies lots of sounds to show off.
A male lyrebird builds several dirt mounds in his territory. To attract females, he climbs onto one, throws his tail forward over his head, shakes it, and sings his amazing song.
His song is full of copied sounds: other birds' calls, and sometimes car alarms, chainsaws, crying babies or human voices he has heard nearby. Males mate with several females, but each female mates with just one male.
Males hold territories containing several display mounds. On a mound, the male sings and dances while throwing his tail forward over his body and shaking it (Australian Museum). The song is a medley in which mimicry, of local native birds and of mechanical sounds such as chainsaws and car engines, makes up about 80 percent.
The mating system is polygynous: males mate with several females, while each female mates with one male (Wildlife Victoria). Females also have their own range of calls, including calls used to communicate with their chicks.
Did you know?
A lyrebird egg takes about six or seven weeks to hatch.
A lyrebird's single egg takes about six or seven weeks to hatch.
Incubation of the single egg lasts around six weeks (NSW Government) to roughly 50 days (Wildlife Victoria), followed by 6 to 10 weeks in the nest.
Protecting the forest dancer
There are still many lyrebirds.
But they need their damp forests. Foxes, dogs and wild cats can hurt them, because they live on the ground.
The IUCN lists the superb lyrebird as Least Concern, and it is common where its forest habitat remains. But its numbers are thought to be going down slowly.
Clearing forests for towns, farms and logging takes away its home. Because lyrebirds live on the ground, foxes, dogs and feral cats are a danger to them. If you see a lyrebird, stay quiet and give it space, and keep dogs on a leash near lyrebird forests.
The IUCN assessment, made in 2018, lists Menura novaehollandiae as Least Concern. The global population has not been quantified but the species is common where habitat remains; the trend appears to be decreasing, though not fast enough to approach Vulnerable. Birds in Backyards lists it as Secure federally and in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.
Wildlife Victoria names habitat loss from clearing for urban development, agriculture and logging, and predation by foxes, dogs and feral cats, as common threats. The assessment dates from 2018, so it may not reflect more recent changes.
IUCN Red List
How is the superb lyrebird doing in the wild?
- Least Concern (this animal)
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable
- Endangered
- Critically Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
Least Concern
Not at risk of disappearing from the wild right now.
See the IUCN Red List assessment · The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021.3
Amazing facts
-
A lyrebird can copy the sound of a chainsaw.
Lyrebirds have copied chainsaws, car engines, car alarms, dog barks and even crying babies.
Mimicked sounds recorded for the species include chainsaws, car engines, car alarms, dog barks, human voices and many native birds.
-
A lyrebird egg takes about six or seven weeks to hatch.
A lyrebird's single egg takes about six or seven weeks to hatch.
Incubation of the single egg lasts around six weeks (NSW Government) to roughly 50 days (Wildlife Victoria), followed by 6 to 10 weeks in the nest.
-
There is a lyrebird on an Australian coin.
The superb lyrebird appears on the Australian 10-cent coin.
The lyrebird features on Australia's 10-cent coin (Wildlife Victoria).
-
Lyrebirds hardly ever fly.
Lyrebirds have weak wings and rarely fly, but they flutter up into trees to sleep at night.
A ground-dweller with weak wings, the lyrebird rarely flies but roosts in trees at night.
Words to know
- mimic
- an animal that copies the sounds or looks of something else
- lyre
- an old musical instrument, like a small harp with a curved frame
- display
- a show an animal puts on, often to attract a mate
- leaf litter
- the layer of fallen leaves and twigs on the forest floor
- incubate
- to keep eggs warm until they hatch
Discovery challenge
-
What is the lyrebird famous for?
What is the superb lyrebird most famous for?
What makes up about 80 percent of the superb lyrebird's song?
- Copying other sounds
- Swimming under water
- Flying very high
Show the answer
Copying other sounds
It copies other birds, and even machines like chainsaws!
About 80 percent of its song is copied sounds, from other birds to car engines and chainsaws.
About 80 percent of the song is mimicry of natural and mechanical sounds, combined in a medley.
-
How many eggs does a mother lyrebird lay?
How many eggs does a superb lyrebird lay in its nest?
What is the clutch size of the superb lyrebird?
- One
- Ten
- Fifty
Show the answer
One
She lays just one egg.
She lays one egg, which hatches after about six or seven weeks.
A single egg, incubated by the female for around six weeks to roughly 50 days.
-
Where does the father lyrebird dance?
Where does a male superb lyrebird perform his dance?
Where do male superb lyrebirds display?
- On a little hill of dirt
- In a pond
- On a rooftop
Show the answer
On a little hill of dirt
He dances on a little hill of dirt in the forest.
He dances and sings on one of several dirt mounds in his territory.
On one of several display mounds within his territory, throwing his tail forward over his body.
-
Where do superb lyrebirds live?
In which country do superb lyrebirds live?
Which country is the superb lyrebird's whole range in?
- Australia
- India
- Peru
Show the answer
Australia
They live in Australia.
They live in damp forests in south-eastern Australia, and people brought some to Tasmania.
Australia only: the south-eastern mainland, plus an introduced population in southern Tasmania.
Places where you might see it
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Explain what mimicry is and describe the lyrebird's song.
- Describe how the lyrebird's tail gives it its name and how males display.
- Describe the lyrebird's single-egg nesting and why its life history is slow.
- Name threats to lyrebirds and how people can help.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 12 minutes
Talk about it
- Why might a bird copy sounds it hears around it?
- What does it tell us that lyrebirds now copy chainsaws and car alarms?
- Why might a bird that lays only one egg recover slowly if many are lost?
Try at home or in class
- Play the lyrebird recording and list every sound you think you hear. Then compare lists with someone else.
- Cut a lyre shape from cardboard and add paper strips for the lacy plumes; hold it over your head to see how the male displays.
Key vocabulary: mimic, lyre, display, leaf litter, incubate
Where these facts come from
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN terms of use (no redistribution of Red List data or range maps))
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF Occurrence Search , Global Biodiversity Information Facility (CC0 1.0 (backbone); occurrence counts are facts derived from records under CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC)
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Menura novaehollandiae (Superb Lyrebird), global Red List assessment 2018 , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Superb Lyrebird , Australian Museum
- Superb Lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae) , Birds in Backyards, BirdLife Australia
- Superb lyrebird , Wildlife Victoria
- Lyrebirds , NSW Government (Environment and Heritage)
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file: Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only (credited on each page))
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 27, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.