Male lyrebirds use mimicry in mating dance

Already famous for its uncanny ability to imitate other birds and mechanical devices, Australia’s Superb Lyrebird can also imitate the panicked alarm calls of a mixed-species flock of birds while males are courting or even mating, a team including Anastasia Dalziell, a Cornell Lab of Ornithology associate and recent Lab Rose Postdoctoral Fellow, now at the University of Wollongong, Australia.