Lyrebirds: Menuridae - Behavior And Reproduction

The males of both species sing a lot and use their tails to perform an elaborate courtship display for any approaching females, arching their fanned tails over their backs to form a canopy. The males occupy and defend trampled mounds of vegetation, mating with any female who allows them. Females build a messy, dome-shaped nest of sticks near or on a moist patch of ground in which they lay a single, purplish gray, spotted egg. They incubate (keep warm by sitting on) the egg for six weeks without assistance from a male, and the nestling remains in the nest for six to ten weeks.