Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Lyre Bird


This bird is amazing, as a mating call it mimics the sound of its environment. This came up in my Beautiful Networks class, and we discussed how it was a measurement of what is going on in the world. People are trying to create various feedback systems [in regards to energy use and environmental impact], and here nature has presented us with an amazing signal of our times. Someone mentioned the sad irony of this bird unknowingly signaling the nearing of its own destruction by sounding out chainsaws and tractors. A its almost natural emergency signal, disguised as a call for love.

On a more inspirational note, hearing the Lyre bird mimic a camera  and camera with a motor drive is pretty awesome. In class we also talked about how this reflects upon art as a means to get a mate. Another student noted, that it is fantastic that the best way for a male to get a mate is to reflect his environment sort of causing the female to say "oh, you're right, that is where we live." Speaking of reflecting one's environment, Michel de Broin's Superficielle is quite interesting.

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