Lyrebirds are champion imitators. Sherbrooke Forest is a patch of tall eucalypt forest near Ferntree Gully (the end of the suburban railway line and start of the Puffing Billy line; it has a lot of tourists walking through and they all want to catch a glimpse of the local lyrebirds and (hopefully) take a picture.

They'll imitate other birds, of course, but any other sound they hear as well, like chainsaws, motor car engines, dogs barking and even camera shutter releases the soft click of a COmpur shutter going off was gradually replaced by the clack-k of the Pentax focal plane shutter. One of David Attenborough's bits and bobs showed a lyrebird imitating the shutter release and subsequent motorised film advance of even more modern cameras.

One character practised a mozart flute piece over and over at his house in northern NSW near lyrebird territory and subsequently heard partsd of it that the bird liked sung back to him.

All to show off the testosterone level, much like some musos I know, and for much the same purposes.

Cheers, Rowan