How do lyah birds copy sounds?

Question

sorry i dont no how to spell it but we watched a video in biology where a lyah bird imitated a camera click, a rewinding camera film, a car alarm, and heaps of different bird calls. how exactly do they do it?

Answer 1

because they didnt know other sounds

Answer 2

I suppose you are referring to the lyrebirds in Australia.

Maybe this article could help you understand better how birds mimic other sounds...

How are parrots able to speak?

How do parrots speak? Are their larynx, tongues or brains different from other birds?

-- Lucy Middleton, New Scientist

INSTEAD OF A LARYNX with vocal chords, birds have a syrinx, a distended portion of the trachea. In the wall of the syrinx are two thin, oval membranes that vibrate and produce the bird’s vocalizations. Syrinxes differ slightly anatomically across bird families, involving the attachment of various muscles. Genetic differences also influence birds’ vocalizations.

Parrots and some members of the crow family are the perfect combination of anatomy and neurology to learn human speech. Their syrinxes are capable of making the sounds and, unlike some birds, they are not hard wired genetically to speak only one "language." Much in the same way English speakers can learn to speak French or Russian and vice versa, parrots and crows can learn to speak human words. However, for success it takes a willing, motivated student and a patient teacher.

http://parrotchronicles.com/

From this we could say that lyrebirds are one of the few birds who have highly developed syrinxes that are able to mimic other sounds around it. Birds don't use much their beaks and tongues in making these sounds, but rather, control their syrinxes to whistle in different and sophisticated variations. Thus, this produces the different sounds that the bird mimics. In other words, birds mimic sounds by varying their whistles.

Hope this helps... :-)