Other Names (World)
Superb Lyrebird, Edward Lyrebird, Prince Edward Lyrebird, Queen Victoria Lyrebird, Victoria Lyrebird, Mountain Pheasant, Native Pheasant, New Holland Menura, Superb Menura, New South Wales Bird of Paradise, Lyrebird, Lyretail
Superb Lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae) [XC738172]
by nick talbot from Olinda, Yarra Ranges Shire, Victoria, Australia (alarm call)
Superb Lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae) [XC442229]
by from Faulconbridge, Blue Mountains City Council, New South Wales, Australia (call, song)
Nest
A bulky structure with an entrance at the side, composed of sticks, twigs, dried fern-leaves and mosses on the outside, and wiry rootlets and bark-fibre, on the inside, lined with downy feathers, usually built on a ledge of rock, in a cavity on top of a tall stump, or at the base of trees, occasionally high in a large tree-fork. The downy feathers come from the flanks of the bird.
Eggs (Guide)
1; pale purple-brown; streaked and blotched black; long-oval; about 64 x 45 mm. Incubation: about 42 days; by female.
Young
Altricial, nidicoloius. Fledge in about 6 weeks.
Subspecies
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
novaehollandiae Latham, 1801 - South-eastern New South Wales on the east of the Great Divide from the Hunter River south to around New South Wales - Victoria border, east of Monaro Tablelands.
victoriae Gould, 1865 - Eastern Victoria from Dandenong - Strathbogie Ranges, east to around New South Wales border on the coast, and north-east through the Victorian Alps and the Snowy Mountains, New South Wales to Bridabella Range, ACT, west to Monaro Tablelands.
edwardi Chisholm, 1921 - Extreme south-eastern Qld and north-eastern New South Wales on the east of the Great Divide south to the Hunter River.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet