Greetings Birding-Aussies,
Can anyone comment on this?
Back in the 1970s the Ranger at Gibraltar Range N. P., Roley Payne (spelling might be wrong) said there were Albert’s Lyrebirds as well as Superbs in (I think) Washpool State Forest (now N P – on the north side of the highway). Norman Robinson (CSIRO lyrebird specialist) and I checked in both Gibraltar and Washpool but could find only Superbs. I’ve recently had another report claiming that both Superbs and Albert’s have been heard and seen in both areas.
To the best of my knowledge, there has not been any report in the scientific literature of the two species co-existing anywhere. That would be most remarkable and well worth writing up.
The most southerly population of Albert’s of which I am aware is the one on the Blackwall Range just south of Ballina. (I tape-recorded them in 1983.)
And I surmise that there would have to be very clear evidence to make a report claiming co-existence of the two species, acceptable to a journal editor. Unmistakable photographic evidence would be ideal; a sound recording, less so … of the Albert’s, of course; the Superbs are well known in Washpool/Gibraltar Range.
Only once or twice have I seen females of either species, so I don’t really know whether they could be positively identified from a brief glimpse which is all one can really expect, because they are so shy. I suspect not.
Easily recognised as “lyrebird”, and then one always “knows” from the location which species it has to be. At least that used to be the case. And I surmise that one would need a very clear photo of a female to be able positively to determine the species. (Or of an immature male, for that matter.)
A photo of a mature male that clearly showed the two outer tail-feathers would be ideal. But extremely difficult to obtain! And as I see it, there are four other possibilities:
1. A sound recording that included a “gronking” song would establish beyond doubt that it is an Albert’s. The equivalent Superb song, variously referred to as ‘plik’ song, ‘pillicks’, ‘pluggeras’, etc., is totally different. Get a gronking song and it’s an Albert’s beyond all doubt.
2. Get a lengthy (say 10 minutes or more) recording of breeding season display song, and if it’s an Albert’s, the fixed order of the mimicry should be able to be demonstrated. Superb mimicked sounds come in random order.
3. Find and photograph the display platform. (The problem there of course is to obtain evidence that it was being used by the bird.)
4. A sound recording of only a few minutes (without gronking) might just suffice, under certain circumstances. The problem there is that there are such tremendous variations in the territorial songs with different populations (locations). And this applies to both species.
But if one got recordings from say 5 separate male Superbs in a particular area, it might be possible to demonstrate that all of them are using the same territorial songs. Then a recording of another lyrebird in that same area, that used none of those songs and had quite different territorial songs, would be pretty strong evidence that it was not a Superb.
But this would have to be breeding season display song. Out of the breeding season they may sing quite different songs. And I’ve heard Albert’s, in the breeding season, greatly varying their normal songs early in the morning, while still up in the tree where they roosted. (I don’t know if Superbs do this.)
Were I fit enough, I could positively identify the species of a territorial male within a few days. I’m quite confident that I’d find the mound or the display platform on which he had performed. If a mound, then of course he’s a Superb.
And if it was a platform, then I’d put a mic at the platform with 50 metres or so of cable back to a suitable place of concealment and wait for him to perform there again. The recording would then be proof positive that he was performing on that platform and therefore beyond doubt, an Albert’s.
So – would anyone out there familiar with the lyrebirds of the Gibraltar Range/Washpool complex, care to comment?
Cheers
Syd Curtis
Cheers
Syd
Also…Susan rang this evening to say she¹d spoken to you and got a correct email address (I¹d already tried to send you a message two days ago but got a rejection). She mentioned that you were keen to talk to me again re seeing both species of lyrebirds at Gibraltar Range. Here, for your interest, are a few details. Almost two years ago (late August-early September 2008) I was camping with my husband Bob and two friends down at Mulligan¹s Hut, in Gibraltar Range National Park. While bushwalking and birdwatching in the heathland and woodland areas of the park out from Mulligan¹s Hut we saw several superb lyrebirds. A couple of days later, while walking northwards through Ceratopetalum-dominated rainforest I heard a lyrebird calling and recognised it as Albert¹s and not the superb. Sometime after that, one crossed the track in front of us (female or juvenile male). Some weeks ago, I was talking to some fellow members of the Tamborine Mountain Bird Group who had been camping at Washpool NP recently, and saw Albert¹s lyrebirds there. At the time I saw and heard both birds, I wasn¹t sure how interesting this was, as it was my first time visiting Gib Range NP. Having listened to your talk last Friday, I wish now I had paid more attention to the calling male Albert¹s lyrebird at Gib Range, to note whether it was significantly different to those on Tamborine. Certainly I was immediately able to recognise it as an Albert¹s lyrebird call, as distinct from the superb¹s call, because it stopped me in my tracks. But I was too surprised, and delighted, to really note any differences between it and those with which I¹ve become familiar elsewhere.
Below, I¹ve included a bit of information about myself because while you¹ve spoken to Susan a few times, I¹m pretty much a stranger to you. Though I imagine we have colleagues and acquaintances in common in CSIRO and Forestry I¹ve had associations with both those organisations during my career.
Julie Lake
I¹m a horticulturalist and rainforest ecologist with a lifelong love of natural history (especially plants and birds). Most of my work has been with the Australian nursery and garden industry. Published works include Gardening in a Hot Climate and Gardening with Australian Rainforest Plants (published by Lothian Books), Creating an Australian Rainforest Garden (pub.by Bloomings Books), as well as books on azaleas and palms, and many hundreds of papers and magazine articles. I¹ve also edited a couple of gardening books and contributed to several others. In the past year I¹ve written four gardening books for the American market and completed a biography of my grandmother, a woman in many ways like your mother, whose extraordinary contributions to botanical science have not been duly recognised by history.
Publishers of the GardenEzi easy gardening ebook series
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Hi Syd,
I am probably in a good position to comment on this as I knew the late Roland (Roley) Paine and have a vast amount of experience in the Washpool and Gibraltar Range National Parks, as well as an interest in lyrebird taxonomy.
Roley was the first Trust Ranger at Gibraltar Range and spent many years living in the Park’s residence as a National Parks & Wildlife Service Ranger when the Service took over control of the Park. He spent much time photographing wildlife and he and his then partner, Margaret Hodgson, collaborated on a number of books on Australian flora. He and Margy were later employed in Grafton doing interpretative work – photography, brochures, publicity etc..
Roley told me that he had both species of lyrebirds in the Washpool and he also claimed to have seen Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies and Eastern Quolls. None of these species have been confirmed for the Park and the Rock-wallaby would be well out of its known range and preferred habitat.
I wondered whether the confusion with the lyrebird was due to that fact that the Gibraltar Range was considered to be the southern limit of the Edward’s race of the Superb Lyrebird and the names ‘Edward’ and ‘Albert’ became confused. The Edward’s race of the Superb Lyrebird was considered to be the granite country lyrebird. Schodde and Mason (1999) in the Directory of Australian Birds, Passerines, now give the Hunter River as the southern limit of race edwardi. The rufous throat of the juvenile and immature Superb Lyrebird may have also added to the confusion.
The question about whether both species occur together is interesting as when I saw my first Albert’s Lyrebirds running across the road in the Border Ranges in the 1970s I thought that they must have been Superb Lyrebirds, as the Albert’s was considered to be an almost mythical inhabitant of the densest rainforest gullies which was never to be seen by mortal humans. I thought that both must have occurred together but in different habitats. Even the two Birds Australia Atlases show the two species in the same 1 degree grid but one (Superb) occurs in the far west of the grid and the other (Albert’s) in the far east. The eastern most grid shown for the Superb is most likely an error.
I was asked by someone (I think it was Walter Boles of the Australian Museum) what species of lyrebird is found along the Casino Road between Grafton and Casino as he heard what he believed to be a lyrebird there. Superb Lyrebirds are absent from the large Clarence River floodplain. I would suspect that this bird, if indeed it was a lyrebird, would have been a Superb Lyrebird (race edwardi) at the eastern edge of its range.
Greg Clancy Ecologist and Birding Guide Coutts Crossing NSW Australia http://www.birdrangers.com