COLD OPEN+ · NATURE
COLD OPEN+ · Nº 28 of 40
The Bird That Imitates Chainsaws
One Australian bird can copy almost any sound it hears — other birds, camera shutters, car alarms, even power tools.
Wikimedia Commons · Fir0002 · GFDL 1.2
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THE ANIMAL
Meet the superb lyrebird
A ground-dwelling Australian bird with a spectacular tail, the lyrebird is one of the greatest mimics in the animal kingdom. Its unusually complex vocal muscles let it reproduce a startling range of sounds with eerie accuracy.
Wikimedia Commons · Fir0002 · GFDL 1.2
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THE RANGE
It's a living sound library
A single lyrebird can string together the calls of many other bird species in one performance, switching flawlessly between them — a whole forest's worth of voices coming from one throat.
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THE HUMAN SOUNDS
And then it gets uncanny
Captive and some wild birds have been recorded imitating:
CAMERA
The click and motor-whir of a shutter
ALARMS
Car alarms and construction sirens
TOOLS
The rev of a chainsaw (mostly captive birds)
THE EFFECT
Sounds so real people look around
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THE NUANCE
The chainsaw fame needs a footnote
The famous chainsaw and camera imitations, popularized by a David Attenborough clip, mostly come from birds around humans. In the deep wild, lyrebirds overwhelmingly mimic other birds — the tool sounds are the exception, not the rule.
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WHY THEY DO IT
To impress and to win mates
Male lyrebirds mimic as part of elaborate courtship displays. A richer, more accurate repertoire is like a flashier résumé — proof of skill meant to attract a mate.
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THE TAKEAWAY
An animal turned listening into a superpower — and a performance.
The lyrebird doesn't just hear the world; it collects it, and plays it back to win. Copying, done well enough, becomes its own kind of art.
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THE RECEIPTS · IT'S REAL BIOLOGY
Look it up yourself
Filmed by the BBC and others.
ANIMAL
The superb lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae)
WHERE
Southeastern Australia
THE SKILL
Mimics other birds and ambient sounds
FAMOUS CLIP
David Attenborough's 'Life of Birds'
THE NUANCE
Tool sounds mostly from captive birds
WHY
Courtship display to attract mates
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DISCUSS
What do you think?
Is a lyrebird 'creating' music or just copying — and does the line matter?
Why would evolution reward being an amazing imitator?
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