- Menura alberti
Identification
Photo taken: Lamington NP, Queensland, Australia
The Albert's Lyrebird, Menura alberti is a pheasant-sized songbird, up to 90cm long, with brown upper body plumage and rich chestnut below. It is very similar with the Superb Lyrebird in its habits. This bird also mimics other species sounds.
The rarer of the two species of lyrebirds, the Albert's Lyrebird lacks the elegant lyre-shaped tail feathers of the Superb Lyrebird. It also build platforms by trampling down dense vegetation for courtship display instead of scratch up mounds. The diet consists mainly of small animals found on forest floor or from rotting logs.
Named after Prince Albert, the Prince Consort of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Albert's Lyrebird is inhabiting and endemic to subtropical rainforests of Australia, in a small area on the state border between New South Wales and Queensland.
Due to ongoing habitat lost on this restricted range species gives the Albert's Lyrebird its Vulnerable status on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
