Emu pictures and stories.... post them here

[Toast n Jelly]

So peaceful

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Sunshine: Part Two​

You may recall that I defined the wildness of emus by ‘degree of bolt.’ The wild birds that come to the farmhouse are, by definition, a weensy bit not wild; and you can drive at 60 m.p.h. past flocks of emus grazing in paddocks on the side of the road on the way to town, and they won’t flinch. However, if you hove soundlessly into sight in the same place at six in the morning, those same emus will bolt.
I mention this because S.E.-with-binos has entered unto a new phase, observations at length of truly wild emus that don’t know he’s there:

winter rains are well under way, and the ‘lanes’ between the gums are partly carpeted with emerald-green moss, and the leaves have all begun to mulch. This means you can move almost soundlessly. This morning – actually, no sunshine – I snuck snuck snuck down an aisle towards a glade near the corridor. Before I got there, I heard a wild emu in the clearing.
[Okay, readers, bits of serious stuff shall be in brackets. There is a stoush in primatology about Goodall’s seminal study of chimpanzees, and the philosophy of it is relevant to our husbandry of our beloved emus: the claim is that the degree of aggression shown by the chimps in two studies hinged on whether or not Goodall’s crew supplied bananas to the chimps. When they have vast spaces to roam in, they are too busy finding bananas to squabble. Conversely, as soon as food became abundant in one place, nasty power-plays began. I’ve been aware of this distortion since I began observing four years ago. I greatly hope that the observations in the house-clearing are helpful to BYC members; but the clearing is Big Squabble Territory. How does this relate to Supreme Emu wandering around the scrub with his binos? Well, squabbles equal vocalisations. Where there are not squabbles going on, there are (many?) fewer vocalisations. It’s fair to assume that your pet birds vocalise rather more than truly wild birds. I have no doubt at all that, at least in the cases in which there is any sort of 'imbalance' of numbers and sexes, they squabble far more. A few weeks ago, the French guy and I watched a number of truly wild birds for over a half an hour -- no squabbles, no calls. Nevertheless, what I wrote about unending pecking-order resolution remains true, even if it's more pronounced in the clearing.]

The vocalisation was the little ‘trickle grunt’ call of unalarmed birds. (My next task is to begin differentiating the calls. Just yesterday afternoon, after I posted Sunshine Part One, I went down for a quick look, and find myself face to face with a wild bird walking through the scrub by the corridor. There was no mistaking the tone of his call – ‘Alarm!!’ It and its companion bolted, throwing up silver jets of water as they hammered through the three inches of water in the semi-swamp that is the corridor at this time of year. Twenty or more kangaroos thud-thud-thudded off in different directions with them. Well and truly busted!!)

Upon hearing it, I simply sat down, and began patiently scanning the slivers of glade that were visible at forty to sixty yards through the gums. Then another call. It was so quiet at this point I could tell the species of a bird passing overhead just from the sound of its wings. My attention was gained by a flash of light that turned out to be sunlight on a spider web. Then, I spotted a kangaroo. It was almost a hundred yards away; but it was watching me. Their ears, which are neatly outlined in white, give them away as they ‘angle’ from side to side. Otherwise, you can watch an area for twenty minutes without seeing all the roos there. While the silhouette of an emu is not so hard to spot, a grazing ‘roo, seen from behind, is a most inconspicuous little hummock of plain brown.

Then . . . a flash of silver-white, sunlight on the ‘part’ of the feathers on a wild emu’s back. Two wild birds and several kangaroos were grazing together in the clearing, but they had already sensed I was there, and ambled away.

The first of the photos is a part of the glade. This is prime emu-territory. They can run through this semi-open country at amazing speed. The second photo is of the top end of the corridor. There is a pool of water here. It’s something of an intersection, and I see and hear wild birds here all the time.

S.E.

 

[Farmerboy16]

How cool! Thanks for sharing!

 

[kathyinmo]

I always look forward to this thread. I hope more will post!

I took Fred and Wilma to the pond for a while today. Wilma rolls and rolls and swims around. Fred never gets his back wet.

 

[kathyinmo]

Yesterday.....

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Wonderful photos.

Fred doesn't like to get his back wet! Every detail is interesting to me: birds have personalities!!?? [Mine do: Greedy likes pasta salad but Felicity doesn't.]

The environment your birds are in is outstanding. The video 'explains' just how much space they do 'use up' when they have it.

And . . . I'm a would-be gardener . . . could you get dandelions and other yummy-for-emus stuff to grow wild at your place? Silverbeet? lettuce? You could use heirloom seeds.

Supreme Emu

 

[kathyinmo]

Wonderful photos.

Fred doesn't like to get his back wet! Every detail is interesting to me: birds have personalities!!?? [Mine do: Greedy likes pasta salad but Felicity doesn't.]

The environment your birds are in is outstanding. The video 'explains' just how much space they do 'use up' when they have it.

And . . . I'm a would-be gardener . . . could you get dandelions and other yummy-for-emus stuff to grow wild at your place? Silverbeet? lettuce? You could use heirloom seeds.

Supreme Emu

Lots of dandylions here! The soil here is poor and it is difficult to grow much more than weeds, without hauling in better soil.

 

[1muttsfan]

OMG Kathy they are huge! Love the twinkletoes. I was wondering how big they were getting. Thanks for sharing with us (emuless) observers.

 

[Toast n Jelly]

I can easily sit here all day watching them run around...they're so joyful! Thanks.

 

[AlienChick]

I can easily sit here all day watching them run around...they're so joyful! Thanks.

x2