Lyrebirds Shift the Earth

Beavers are well known as ecosystem engineers in North America. In Australia, lyrebirds play a big role in shaping their environment when they use their toes to dig in the ground for food. A single lyrebird can shift 11 dump truck loads of soil and leaves — each year! That’s thought to be more than any other digging animal. Lyrebirds are best known for their spot-on imitations of other birds’ songs and calls.

BirdNote®
Lyrebirds Shift the Earth
Written by Bob Sundstrom

This is BirdNote.

[Babbling brook and the slap of a beaver’s tail hitting the water]

Beavers are ecosystem engineers. They alter the environment in ways that directly affect other species. By damming streams, they create new ponds and meadows, new habitats.

Australia is home to its own remarkable ecosystem engineers: the lyrebirds.

[Superb Lyrebird song]

A lyrebird scratches furiously on the forest floor with long, strong toes, to uncover—from up to six inches deep—worms and spiders and other tasty invertebrates. In the process, one lyrebird can shift 11 dump truck loads of soil and leaves– each year! That’s thought to be more than any other digging animal.

[Superb Lyrebird song]

By digging, the birds expose bare soil and mix it with leaf litter. This helps cycle nutrients while creating new habitats and altering others in ways that promote a more diverse ecosystem.

But that’s not their only special talent. Lyrebirds are best known for their uncanny vocal abilities, which can incorporate spot-on imitations of other bird species, like this Laughing Kookaburra.

[Superb Lyrebird imitating Laughing Kookaburra]

Between their terraforming toes and their world-renowned vocal mimicry, lyrebirds are truly remarkable.

[Superb Lyrebird song]

For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.

This episode is sponsored by Kris Tsujikawa and her son Nicola, who say: let's build stronger communities by helping our neighbors.

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Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Superb Lyrebird ML229666 recorded by Vicki Powys, and Superb Lyrebird ML463586881 recorded by James Holmes.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2024 BirdNote March 2024
Narrator: Michael Stein

ID# SUPLYR-02-2024-04-08 SUPLYR-02

Reference:
https://theconversation.com/new-research-shows-lyrebirds-move-more-litt…