#menuridae

[herpsandbirds]

Superb Lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae), family Menuridae, order Passeriformes, Dandinong Forest, Melbourne, Australia

This bird is renowned for its ability to accurately mimic a wide variety of sounds, such as birds and other animals, humans, and mechanical and electric noises.

photograph by Savita Shiggaon

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

I forgot some!!

- lyrebird (can imitate machinery noise)

- masked lapwing/plover (dive for cover)

- whipbird (they sound cool)

- butcherbird (they have their name for a very good reason)

- huntsman spider (can't kill you with venom, but might do it with a heart attack)

- topknot pigeon (just wacky lookin fellas)

- galah (love powerlines so much that they cause blackouts)

- goanna (very fast in trees)

And some not from my area:

- deep-sea telescope fish (absolute icons)

- kea bird (will they use their brainpower for good or evil? Tune in to find out)

- Antarctic strawberry feather star (just vibin, mesmerisin)

I'll go through these in order! I'll do the most common species of lyrebird.

Have you seen the superb lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae)?

I have now

Yes, in photos/videos

Yes, irl

I'm not sure

Voting ended onJun 30, 2025

[perfect-plumage]

Superb Lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae)

© Daniel Field

[birds-that-screm]

Superb Lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae)

© Ian Halliday

[passerine-free-pass]

Superb Lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae)

© Mark Sanders

[mostly-moist-birds]

Superb Lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae)

© Andrew Schopieray

[nevermorealyre]

In the Sunlight - MDZS ShortFic

I’ve decided to leave my AO3 account for posting my longer fanfics and I will begin to post a series of my shorter fics here on my tumblr. 

I was possessed to write a story of Wei Wuxian admiring Lan Wangji’s face while he slept and this is the result.

~

It was a given that the Gusu Lan sect disciples rose at five in the morning and went to bed at nine at night; thus, Wei Wuxian, who couldn’t ever bring himself to wake before seven, had never risen before Lan Wangji. Wei Wuxian had developed the habit of going to bed at the same time as Lan Wangji, but would stay up later than his partner to watch his face relax in sleep. If he couldn't wake before Lan Wangji, he would at least sleep after him.

Wei Wuxian thought his husband’s face whilst sleeping was vastly different to that of the one he wore when he was awake. His face when awake was akin to smooth and perfectly sculpted white jade; beautiful to both admire and touch. However, Wei Wuxian believed that Lan Wangji’s face was even more lovely whilst he slept. Unlike the carefully carved cold exterior he had during the day, at night his face was made of the same flesh and blood as Wei Wuxian’s. It was a malleable metal that felt warmed by the heat of his hands and Wei Wuxian would never tire of trailing his fingertips over the falling and sweeping plains of Lan Wangji’s face.

There was a countless amount of times that Wei Wuxian had seen Lan Wangji’s sleeping face at night in the light of the moonlight or the flickering warmth of candle flame. In the cool light of the moon, Lan Wangji could be mistaken for a star that had descended to earth and the gods had fashioned with experienced hands into the most perfect person to ever exist. But in the warm glint of the hovering candle flame, Lan Wangji was an ember that had floated away from a dying fire and had been re-ignited with the gentle breath of a lover into a new flame in the shape of a man.

But even though Wei Wuxian was intimately familiar with Lan Wangji’s sleeping face at night, he desperately desired to know what he looked like bathed in the juvenile rays of an early sunrise. All the Gusu Lan sect disciples awoke well before the sun rose, so Wei Wuxian had to believe that the last time Lan Wangji had slept during daylight hours was when he was a small child. Wei Wuxian had to wonder if the sun misses seeing his sleeping face because it truly was a crime to deny such a sight of beauty to anyone. But Wei Wuxian had to deny many the pleasure of seeing his sleeping husband’s face. Such a sight should be for him and him only.

~

It took a hidden sleeping draught that Wei Wuxian had slipped into Lan Wangji’s tea the night before for his wish to come true. Wei Wuxian had risen with the sun this morning and was delighted to see his husband still fast asleep next to him. The salesperson at the apothecary where he had found the sleeping draught had promised Wei Wuxian that any person would be knocked out for longer than twelve hours after drinking it. Despite the reassurance though, Wei Wuxian was still sceptical of its effectiveness of keeping Lan Wangji asleep past dawn. Wei Wuxian knew better than to doubt his husband’s discipline and commitment to the Gusu Lan sect’s rules.

Usually the only time that Lan Wangji would lay in bed in the morning was if Wei Wuxian begged him to stay for cuddles. But even then he would lay awake while his husband sought after a little more sleep. To be able to wake up to Lan Wangji’s sleeping face was thrilling and Wei Wuxian settled on his side to admire the view and imprint it firmly in his mind as he didn’t know if he would ever see such a sight again.   

A delicate ribbon of sunlight that was filtered through the leaves of the tree outside was streaming through the cracked open window and fell softly on Lan Wangji’s sleeping face. The beam of light swayed slightly over his face as the tree outside blew in the breeze and cast a dancing array of shadows and light over his face. Wei Wuxian imagined that the swaying sunlight was familiarising itself with Lan Wangji’s sleeping face as well, taking note of how his face had changed from an innocent child into the handsome man he was today. As the patches of light shifted over Lan Wangji’s face, Wei Wuxian’s eyes followed them, using the light as a spotlight to admire a new patch of skin or defined facial feature.

Wei Wuxian had to think about how Lan Wangji’s face was different in the light of the sun in comparison of the light of the moon and candle flame. In the moonlight, his face was evenly painted in a pale blue that flattened his face and made him look like a painting come to life. In the candlelight, the valleys and hills of his face was exaggerated with deep casted shadows and the natural colour of his face was lost in the warmth of the orange light. Wei Wuxian could now note that he had seen what his face looked like painted in sunlight, no matter the light source during the night, Lan Wangji’s face was washed in the wrong colour that didn’t highlight his facial features correctly.

But in the light of the sun, oh in the light of the sun, everything about his beauty awake and asleep were combined. His face was flushed in the correct hues of muted pinks and his facial features were not shrouded in shadows or lacking its sharp definition. He was neither star nor flame in the morning. In the sunlight he was a flower that Wei Wuxian had personally plucked from the garden and carefully tended to until he grew into the man he loved. Wei Wuxian knew that Lan Wangji’s sleeping face at night could not compare to the one during the daytime and immediately regretted his earlier decision to never slip him a sleeping draught again. Maybe it was time to seek a house outside of the Cloud Recesses so they could sleep in all they wanted and Wei Wuxian could admire his husband in the morning a dozen times more.

But these decisions were for another time. All Wei Wuxian wanted to do now was bask in the beauty of his husband and sneak a few small kisses where the sunlight illuminated a new patch of skin.

~

PSA: Please do not drug your significant other in order to be a creep to watch them while they sleep. 

[hello-birdies]

Menura novaehollandiae by David Cook.