Lyrebird – close encounter

Three years ago Badger Weir’s ancient tree ferns and Mountain Ash trees were severely damaged by a storm, the area has been closed to the public until earlier this month: I wondered whether the resident Superb Lyrebirds would have become shyer and wary of visitors.

Superb Lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae)
1/200, f5.6, ISO 6400

The picnic tables are no longer nestled amongst the foliage and there is evidence of the massive trees that were damaged in the storm but once on the tracks it was very much as beautiful as it always has been, Parks Victoria and local volunteers have done a truly magnificent job.

The first shots I took of a lyrebird were ridiculous as the bird was virtually hidden in the undergrowth and it took a fair bit of imagination to work out which parts of the image were shadow and which parts were bird. Further along the track a beautiful sight awaited – not one but two lyrebirds were foraging, I couldn’t have stopped more quickly if they’d been snakes. One bird started scratching about in the leaf litter on the low side of the path while the second bird came so close to me that I actually tried to capture an image with my phone. The second bird wanted to visit the high side of the track and called to its partner, who continued foraging and blithely ignored the calls. The calling bird began calling more frantically and raced across the track to perch on the fallen tree above. What a magnificent spectacle! The sight and the sounds were magical.

Superb Lyrebirds are well known for their amazing mimicry, I’ve heard them sounding like all kinds of things including camera shutters and chainsaws, kookaburras and Eastern Yellow Robins. The bird above was just calling for her mate to join her, incessantly.

Lyrebirds forage in moist forests, scratching about with their strong feet in the leaf litter, searching for tasty invertebrate delicacies. I love how clearly I could see this bird’s legs and feet. The lighting on the forest floor, beneath giant Mountain Ash trees, is not good for photography, I’m astounded to have captured this image in such conditions. An ISO of 6400 is desperate territory, remember the days when standard film was ISO 100? A shutter speed of 1/200th of a second is crazily slow for bird photography and even crazier for a handheld shot with a long lens. Somehow a miracle happened and I’m still smiling.

Happy birding

Kim

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