Life in a forest of giants

Full Episode description

No music, no voices. Just the sound of the mountain ash forest, recorded by the ABC’s Dr Ann Jones.

The mountain ash is the tallest flowering plant in the world, a eucalypt that can reach 90m in height. And beneath its arbour is an incredible array of wildlife, including an incredible chorus of birds.

I recorded this while filming ‘Australia’s Favourite Tree’ for ABC TV near Marysville in Victoria.

It was a cold, misty morning on Taungurong Country and among the first sounds that can be heard in this recording is a male lyrebird practising some of his repertoire – both mimicry and his own sounds.

00:01:51 The lyrebird is imitating a black cockie here.

00:03:42 this lazer sort of sound is the lyrebird’s own sounds.

00:06:25 The lyrebird makes both the male and female components of the whip bird call!

00:06:55 Heeeeere comes a parrot, screaming as it goes.

00:07:20 Pied Currawongs call to each other in the distance.

00:23:00 A fly fly-by!

00:35:10 Actual yellow tailed black-cockatoos incoming!

00:36:40 This incredibly sharp-sounding call is the pilot bird, a small brownish bird of the understorey. So-called because it sometimes ‘pilots’ the lyrebird, taking advantage of the lyrebirds superior digging skills to grab invertebrate prey uncovered.

00:56:40 Tune your ear to higher frequencies to hear a wonderful insect calling in pulses.

01:02:40 We’ve got some sulphur-crested cockatoo begging happening here. Consistent nagging like a toddler at the top of a tree. 

01:30:50 A pair of real whipbirds make an appearance here, with a two-part duet consisting of build and whip, and then an answering ‘chew chew.’

01:34:20 The wing beats of a bird in flight.

01:56:30 Among the smaller birds, perhaps scrubwrens and thornbills, and definitely a grey fantail and a pilotbird, you can hear the black-cockies take flight and call to each other, the pied currawong.