Lyrebird
The male uses his impressive vocal range to serenade the ladies Source: Zoo Chat
We give parrots too much credit for being able to imitate human speech. To be honest, they’ve got nothing on the lyrebird found in Australia. While it is not known to replicate human speech, the sheer variety of natural and artificial sounds that it can mimic is astounding.
Like most other birds, it does this in order to attract a mate. Its own song is a composition with elements borrowed from the songs of other birds. The kookaburra, for example, has a unique sound, but the lyrebird can replicate it so well that it can fool the real kookaburras.
The beautiful tail of the lyrebird, said to resemble a lyre Source: Zoo Chat
Even more amazing is the lyrebird’s ability to mimic artificial noises. You won’t have to wonder whether a lyrebird had ever encountered humans or not when you hear it mimic car alarms, engine noises, phone ringtones, chainsaws and even crying babies.
A female lyrebird waiting to be serenaded Source: Unpythonic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjE0Kdfos4Y?t=1m22s
