Mating-Season in Australia

[chickenzoo]

I have Merlin & Doodlebug, there daughter Pumba from the year before then their two chicks Tomona & Zippy from this year. I hope Pumba.& my other male Henry will bond one day.......

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

[Pardon, readers. S.E. has been a most unwell emu.]

Felicity’s queendom has shrunk to the size of a postage stamp. It’s odd: if Felicity raises her ruff, and ‘formally’ challenges Greedy, then Greedy will move -- almost languidly -- out of the way; but Greedy will come right in to feed with Felicity. It’s actually rather as it was when they were chicks, and settling into their places in the hierarchy.

Boy Emu is close to the half-way mark, readers. Next Tuesday, I think. He is now officially torpid. He hardly scratches; he hardly moves his head. In his head, he’s saying, ‘I just gotta hang in here. A month more. Wow!! It’s cold and raining – but hey: it’s Rocky Gully in wintertime.’
I look forward to comparing notes with Emu Hugger, who has had the chance to observe a bird nesting full term.

I am prepared to leave B.E. very much alone. I can approach quite close, but I don’t see much of a point. But I spent some time observing him from fairly close. He seems entirely unconcerned about me watching him.

Guys, the front gate was unlocked over at the Oudman’s the other day. Hmmm . . . if it is The Blue Gum Guys, then (even assuming that S.E. is a well emu) our chances of observing there will be shot. This is a pity.

Supreme Emu

Okay, that's pretty interesting, Emu Hugger: three generations. I look forward to learning whether your birds mate as two-year-olds or three-year-olds -- Greedy is almost four!!

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Here are some photos, readers. Here’s Felicity revelling in being boss. She’s actually displaying here; but she doesn’t display a lot; and it’s just so hard to be in front of my birds when they display because it only happens in the few seconds when they fight (and I have only a sad little mobile-phone camera)/

S.E.



S.E.


The lilly pilly tree is almost done, so the Emu-World Principal Shmoozing and Squabbling Point must shift once again. There are early early blossoms on one fruit tree, but it's gonna be some time before the spring fruit is edible.
S.E.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

I took the camera around the clearing. This is the old shearing-shed from the wild-emu perspective. Decades of sheep-poo juice has seeped down through the yards, and into the trees. It’s simply the best bit of grass within miles (except the square yard of grass by the septic tank, which kangaroos jump the fence here to get at).

I think it’s hilarious to see my birds’ heads sticking up out of the old sheep yards. Wild birds sometimes sneak in.
I wish, in the big picture, that I had the chance to remove from the house-clearing every bit of wire, every post, every shard of glass, and bit of wire.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Here they are, both too busy eating to squabble; and in the background, you can see Classic Gully Weather: the house-clearing is clear and sunny when . . . it’s clear and sunny. Then storms roll in from the south-west. It can pour rain within five minutes, and last for days.

 

[Farmerboy16]

Great pictures! I love reading about your world down there. Its very interesting!

 

[chickenzoo]

Me too.....love the pics.nice to put emu faces with names

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

It’s dawn on a clear fine winter morning. Let’s just observe: it’s still barely light. I hear kookaburras and currawongs. They herald dawn, which the emus don’t really do. Both Greedy and Felicity are already here . . .

now, feel free to laugh, boys and girls, but for ages now I have suspected the following:
because I am an old emu, I often have naps. When I return from town, I have a little feast . . . and naps. My point here is that there is light and sound during the night at the farmhouse at these times. Also, when I hitch to town, I get up very very early – again, lights and sound. Well, I think that sometimes the light and sound set the emus to calling. For example, an old emu lies awake in bed, listening; then gets up to go to the loo (and so turns on the light); then jumps straight back in bed – and the emus start calling!??

Quite light now. Lots and lots of bird calls, and the flying birds are up and about; but it’s still exquisitely quiet otherwise.

What are your thoughts on Felicity, readers? She is as old as Greedy – coming up on four – but she hasn’t secured a mate yet. (Foxtrot Charlie Emu hardly seems to count.) Is she just a late late starter? and may breed next year? or is possible that she’s not a breeder? What percentage of the emu population might be non-breeders? Do they have any other social function?

First sunlight is on the clearing now. The ring-necked parrots are feeding on the ground. It’s still as quiet as a cathedral.
Here is F. in the drive-way. (Boy Emu is behind and left.) You can see the front gate in the distance.



Here is Felicity bearing down on G. She seems to display differently for different tasks.





G. and F. display a little differently – and it’s high time I understood more about displays. Felicity more so raises the ruff on her lower chest, producing a sort of neat round 'upside-down hill’ shape.

Greedy seems strangely flat-chested. (Seriously, I do think a little of this comes from scrapping – the birds lose chest feathers when they scrap seriously. Lesser spats involve ‘standing on the other’s tail,’ in which, as the lesser bird turns to flee, the stronger bird jumps up and lands a good swipe on the departing bird’s back/high tail. You can tell when they’ve been scrapping. There are fresh feathers lying about.) Greedy’s display is usually more so ‘around the edges’ – does that sound funny? But I mean it literally: she raises the feathers along the side of her neck from top to bottom (right down to her upper back), which makes her look much bigger. She doesn’t raise her chest ruff so much.

Okay! Felicity is displaying and booming quietly, like a vocal reconnaissance – but Greedy seems to be involved as well. She’s a hundred yards away. Not vocalising, but doing ‘eagle eyes.’ I’m watching both through the binos. F.’s display is great when she does this. Her ruff extends six or more inches below the tips of her wings (but all puff-at-the-front, not like G.).

Supreme Emu

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Gee, everyone likes photos. Okay, we’ll have a little photo fest:



So, skinny neck is F. Puffed at the edges is G. – can you pick which one is which?




Nah, just back from photographing Boy Emu; but you can't see anything. I did go closer than I yet have. He perked up a little as I got close, but wasn't alarmed. Actually, if I count the days properly, he has just crossed the half-way mark. Overall, he seems to be perfectly on track. Nothing alarming has happened. The cars barreling past at the end of his aisle don't perturb him at all. The weather has been rather mild. (Double-edged sword: we are short of rain.) I want to see him turn the eggs.
\

Greedy is at the back here. Note the distance. It’s ‘The Distance’ -- that is, if Greedy
‘shadows’ Felicity from closer than this, Felicity retaliates. They have been unaccountably close – or does that mean that G. is pressuring F.? Do you see that Felicity’s ruff is a little raised, but Greedy’s is not at all.

There is lots of wonderfully subtle stuff going on here! I’m sort of glad that I’m not F. Who’s in control here? Technically, G. flees F.; but who’s the one simultaneously displaying and moving away? Felicity!

One of the things that is readily apparent when emus have plenty of space is how carefully they use it. The way that yachts tack back and forth comes immediately to mind. In respect of their respective ‘ranks,’ the birds stay at agreed distances. Beyond that, any and every ‘restraint’ – fences, people, thick bushes, buildings – is clearly registered at all times. I can tell down to inches when a bird will ‘tack’ in order to avoid being between me and anything, or between another bird and anything, that is, in order to remain well in the open, preferably with a nice straight line to bolt down.

Now go back to the photo above. See it anew. If F. turned to her right, G. would immediately double because otherwise she’d be being ‘bottlenecked’ between F. and the fence on her right.

Birds make occasional mistakes. I’ve seen Felicity cop a kicking because she let herself get ‘pipped at the post’ to get out the side gate of the garden as Eric was coming in. Ambushed by the gate, Felicity bravely turned and displayed. It was, as always, over in literally a second or two. Felicity lost a ‘puff’ of chest feathers to a hefty kick; but was able to disengage, and bolt through the gate.

If you get to observe fifteen or twenty birds in a space like the clearing here, you can ‘map’ a good deal of the moves: alpha birds will square off, and fight outright; lesser birds will display and hiss; a flight of even-less-powerful birds will shy off into the trees, and stand there; a single bird may ‘surrender,’ and plonk itself down neutral in the middle of the whole shebang. And all the time, birds are ‘tacking’ back and forth to get into, or stay out of, one another’s way.

Supreme Emu

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

The apple tree has blossoms!! Spring!!

85% of spazzy dances happen at dawn. What they mean I have no idea, but I love to watch them.

On the way to town, I passed a big big paddock – a half a mile square – that has been well supered: green, green, long and lush; and standing in the middle, patiently cropping in the morning sun, was a lone wild emu.

I’m listening each morning for males replying to females. It’s just eight days since we walked to the river at dawn, and heard three male(s) there replying to females’ dawn calls. If we hear early-morning males in coming days, we may assume that mating continues. If not, then not – does that make sense?

Are there any readers who are betting persons? I am surprised that F. has lasted this long – and pardon my enthusiasm with this issue, readers. To identify the boundaries, that cheeky Supreme Emu has been standing, with a big bowl of wheat, between F. and G. This morning, after provocation in the form of Greedy eating at just arm’s length from Felicity, Felicity challenged, and Greedy counter-challenged – then bolted. It’s all over, though. The next time or the time after . . .

In the interests of science, I just tried a simple experiment. Of course, I never ever do anything hostile to my birds – how else shall I win their trust? I was standing by the house, with F. between me and the house. It is my policy to always move quietly around the birds, talk quietly, and keep out of their way – which is what I was writing about. So, thinking about yesterday’s post, I moved a mere five or six feet, as though ‘outflanking’ F. – that is, bottlenecking her against the house. Bingo!! Three times I did it, and three times she displayed and vocalised, most unhappy with the idea that I should be heading her off.

Supreme Emu