Lyrebird corroboree in Eora land

Once there was a place where people incorporated the sound of collaborative frogs and birds gatherings into their songs. The human ceremonial aggregation, known as corroboree belonged to the oldest living cutures in the world. Many of the indigenous Australians lost their lives with the British invasion in 1788. “By the 1840s, most of the Aboriginal people had disappeared from Pittwater and their traditional lands had been taken over by white settlers.”

Some years ago I heard a lyrebird mimic corroboree-sounds in this Sydney national park. The memory must have passed on, although the dominant sound now is a ubiquitous rage of the (petrol) machinery over the land and ocean of contemporary Australia. This was a one-off magic space-time. The superb lyrebird can be heard sounding the new motorised racket of chainsaws, 4x4s and of course the Australian mowers starting up. It still engages in the mimicry of the remaining other birds that the packs of dogs from the subs have not yet mauled.
Do watch this wonderful creature on this video, presented by D. Attenborough:


Updates in soundscapes
29.12.2011
Captive lyrebird mimics the sound most prevalent in Australia: Construction work, drills, hammers and saws. ( video ) The bird has been in captivity for 20 years. Maybe noise pollution and vibration put an end to his life at age 32 abc 29122011 

29.05.2014
Now they imitate the sounds of chainsaws, car alarms, camera shutters, video games and crying babies Treehugger, odditycentral


20.05.2015
Lyrebirds imitating paper mills and trains sounds,  Don Watson on soundcloud