Mundy Growth/General Emu Chat Thread

[briefvisit]

My research is begun, ryne. I have a veritable forest of hocks just out at the lily pilly tree. Photos later: it's raining.

But yes, it seems that a tiny bit of turned-out-ness is visible.

 

[ryneaeiel]

My research is begun, ryne. I have a veritable forest of hocks just out at the lily pilly tree. Photos later: it's raining.

But yes, it seems that a tiny bit of turned-out-ness is visible.

And the slight turning is normal?

I've been trying to find pictures of leg rotation progression, but it seems that people only document the animals when they're already in an advanced stage of rotation. I can't find anything on mild rotation, or what the rotation looks like at a beginning stage. All I'm seeing are right angles and 180s!

 

[briefvisit]

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[briefvisit]

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[briefvisit]

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[briefvisit]

I have no idea what I'm doing -- and they're pulling on my ears while I'm trying to get photos.

That is, I can't tell the underside of one chick from another. However, I undertake, over the next couple of feeds, to examine their hocks as best I can.
SE

 

[ryneaeiel]

I have no idea what I'm doing -- and they're pulling on my ears while I'm trying to get photos.

That is, I can't tell the underside of one chick from another. However, I undertake, over the next couple of feeds, to examine their hocks as best I can.
SE

Thank goodness, it seems that posture is just normal for them! That's such a relief!

Is there a certain call you've heard the dads use to calm startled chicks? I've been having to stay in the living room with Mundy during the night because of fireworks. Petting his neck and back helps a bit, but I wondered if there's an answer a father would give to the high trill that chicks make when distressed/startled, like they're saying "it's alright" or "I'm here."

 

[briefvisit]

'Is there a certain call you've heard the dads use to calm startled chicks?'

To calm the chicks? Not that I've noticed. But to assure 'lost' chicks that 'I'm here'? Indeed yes. It's the basic grunt.

And if you sit patiently, you'll hear regular 'conversations,' and very often the meanings of these are, from context, crystal clear. The model you're asking about goes like this:

'Dad Plus' moves as a unit. The age of the chicks dictates how far from Dad they will wander. Now, if food is involved -- 'OMG I'm missing out!!' -- the chicks will vocalise piteously. (And they all vocalise as they eat, which is a mystery . . . ) Otherwise they tend to silence.
But what will happen is that a chick investigating something -- the fig tree or the grape bush -- will get a bit left behind. It will then cheep in distress, and six or eight cheeps later, Dad will grunt, to re-establish communication.

And overall:

there is a range of vocalisations. I don't understand them all, but a good few. Context is the all. That is, chicks and Dad talk -- unless there's danger, in which case they are deathly still and quiet as they listen.
Breeding-pairs talk. Mobs on the move talk. But small groups grazing do not. A bird or birds reconnoitring an occupied pasture will vocalise as a form of psyops. Females vocalise 'territorially' at night. Sometimes they talk to males at night. (This is most unusual though.)
And conflicts involve vocalisations.

SE

 

[briefvisit]

You sure could experiment! I've only been dumb enough to do it a couple of times. For example, I made a female sound while standing near Tooshtoosh, and he immediately forgot that I was me, and decided I was a female and a threat, and started thinking about giving me a good peck.
You would have to find a discernible male vocalisation on Youtube. Practise imitating it. Then see if Mundy reacts

 

[briefvisit]

18 to 23 seconds here is a male