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Claim check

Do lyrebirds really imitate chainsaws and camera shutters?

ExaggeratedSomething true sits underneath, stretched well past what was shown.

Lyrebirds are extraordinary mimics and mechanical sounds are a very small part of what they copy. The famous clips are largely of captive birds; wild lyrebirds overwhelmingly imitate other birds — and the most remarkable thing they do is not a machine at all.

The claim as it circulates

“Lyrebirds in the wild routinely copy chainsaws, car alarms and camera shutters.”

Where you may have met it: A widely shared documentary clip; Compilation videos of animals imitating machines; Popular articles about the cleverest mimics

Taking it apart

What was claimed
That wild lyrebirds have taken up imitating human machinery, and that chainsaw and camera-shutter imitations are a characteristic part of their repertoire.
What was actually observed
Recordings of wild superb lyrebird display show repertoires composed overwhelmingly of other bird species’ calls. The best-known mechanical imitations come from birds that had lived in captivity or in close contact with people. Separately, analysis of wild male displays found something else: during courtship and copulation, males produce a structured composite resembling a mixed-species mobbing flock — several species’ alarm calls together with imitated wingbeats — assembled into a scene that is not occurring.
What the evidence supports
That lyrebird vocal mimicry is real, exceptional in accuracy, and directed overwhelmingly at other birds. And that at least one mimetic sequence is deployed at a specific moment for what looks like a specific purpose, which moves the subject beyond "look what it can do".
What it does not support
The picture of wild lyrebirds as machine impersonators. It also does not settle what the mobbing-flock display is for: the interpretation that it discourages the female from leaving rests on when the display occurs, and no playback experiment has tested what a female actually does when she hears it.

The wider question

The claims underneath

Each one carries its own evidence, scope and caveats. Expand any of them to reach the studies.

A male lyrebird courting a female imitates not one bird but an entire mobbing flock — several species’ alarm calls and their wingbeats — at a specific moment in the display.

Emerging evidence

Real findings exist, but too few or too recent to be settled.

Male superb lyrebirds produce a structured mimetic sequence resembling a mixed-species mobbing flock, including heterospecific alarm calls and imitated wingbeats, specifically during courtship and copulation. The functional interpretation is that the sequence deters the female from leaving.

Who this applies to
One population of one species, from acoustic analysis of wild displays.
Studied in
Menura novaehollandiae
Why we rate it this way, and what the caveats are
Emerging evidenceModerate confidence

The acoustic description is solid and the timing is striking. The functional claim rests on when the display occurs rather than on any manipulation, and no playback has tested what a female does.

Caveats

  • Observational: the proposed function is inferred from timing, not demonstrated.
  • What the female perceives, and whether she is deterred, is untested.
  • Lyrebirds are the extreme case of vocal mimicry rather than a representative one.

Still unanswered

  • Whether females respond to the sequence as they would to a real mobbing flock, which a playback experiment could answer.

Last reviewed 2026-09-02

The evidence (1 study)

Go deeper

Vocal mimicry

A courting male lyrebird does not imitate a bird. It imitates an entire mobbing flock — several species and their wingbeats — at one specific moment in the display.

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Last reviewed 2026-09-02