Mating-Season in Australia

[chickenzoo]

Lol..i was thinking maybe wild emu were super layers..Hehe. I know my male would.cover up an egg with pine needles and leaves until she decided to come lay another. Sometimes.in the same spot...sometimes in another until they.decided where the nest should be. Then i would catch her in the evening sitting on her elbows at the edge of the nest fixing to lay her egg. He would then roll it into the nest...do some arranging and cover the eggs with leaves. When he'd go to sit he'd uncover them...then if he got up he'd cover them again. Once he had six or so eggs he hunkered down and stayed put unless another male came that needed chasing off.
My emu are very social with each other. They may have a short.time they like to be alone but after that they enjoy company again. Mine sleep by or on each other.....or on the dogs... They do like to lay their necks over each other. My pair lay near each other. They do drink a lot of water but i doubt five gallons per emu. Mine probably suck that much in their feathers while wallowing in the pond...Hehe
Mine also eat during the day..they don't do anything at night as it seems their vision is poorer at night

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Egg-Laying Observed:

This is a crummy report, readers; but what I see is what you get:

out the window, which looks down past the aisle where B.E. is nesting, I saw Greedy standing, looking about her exactly as though she were checking that the coast was clear. I grabbed my kit, and headed for Observation Point Number Two, the crummy one, which is further back, and leaves a bunch of sticks and bark in the way.

B.E. was on the nest, motionless. Greedy was standing in the adjoining aisle, motionless. S.E. was sitting, motionless.

Motionless

Motionless

Two times in, say, fifteen minutes, I smoodged across to the right, to check that Greedy was still there. The difficulty was that, while sitting (I have real trouble standing still for more than a minute or two) I couldn’t actually see B.E. (and it’s hard to resist fiddling with the focus of the binos: they are actually ‘focussed’ on a patch of air over B.E.’s head.)

Finally, Greedy stepped across into B.E.’s aisle – but I didn’t/couldn’t see B.E. move aside. (I can tell the two apart: B.E. has a black head.) I sat for further minutes, watching Greedy’s upper body. It started to rain. I decided to get sane, and retreat to the house – but to walk past Observation Point One, from which the view – at least from about two feet off the ground up – is good.

Eventually, I ended up kneeling with my cushion on my head, to keep the rain off the binos, when It happened: Greedy sat up (remember: I could only see the top two-thirds of her), and assumed that lay-an-egg position that the female in the Youtube video assumes. I fancy I saw a sort of slow-motion convulsion. A minute later – literally a minute – she stood up, and stepped into the adjoining aisle. Surprisingly, B.E. had been there all along. This bit I don’t quite understand: perhaps he shuffled back, and Greedy laid the egg straight into the nest. Perhaps she laid it right in front of him, and he raked the egg in with his beak. B.E. then settled down on the nest again.

S.E.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Thank you for that bit of info, Emu Hugger. It is very very helpful, the missing piece of the puzzle.

Pop up and read the Random Info on Wild Emus that I posted yesterday. The gentlemen in question unhesitatingly labelled Greedy a 'pullet' -- first time layer, therefore probably less prolific. If the Great Pumpkin wills it, and I am still here next year, it will be interesting to see if Greedy manages a mature-bird quota of eggs.

S.E.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Supreme Emu spent some time keeping Boy Emu company – it’s a guy thing. (I woke last night to the sound of pouring rain, and B.E. is sitting out there, in his little feather suit.)

What amazing camouflage: the colours of the gums are brown and grey and black. When B.E. puts his head out of sight, he just disappears.

When he stood up to stretch, I snuck up and peeked: five eggs, I think. He is clearly unconcerned at me being forty feet away.

Greedy and Felicity both homebodies.

Supreme Emu gotta have a few day’s rest.

S.E.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Observing Felicity:

I followed her after she wandered off after a string of quiet gluks (though she looped back a couple of times to see if I had anything yummy for emus). About a hundred yards out, she stopped and glukked quietly. Then, a minute later, she hunkered down, assumed the swan-neck position, and boomed good and loud (So, ‘booming’ is loud ‘glukking’ Both sounds originate in the vocal sac).

Then she moved another hundred yards away from the house-clearing, and quietly glukked again. Then moved; then glukked. She then made her way back to the house-clearing, where she had a final gluk or two.

Hmm . . . do you think, readers, that this is a sort of ‘vocal reconnaissance’? a sort of a ‘morning sweep,’ to see if there are other birds in the vicinity?

S.E.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Turf Skirmish:

to begin, readers, I undertake to Pay Much More Attention. My observations of vocalisations have been almost non-existent.

Sitting watching my birds at dusk, as they graze after their evening feed, is a good time to patiently observe. Today, there was a female audible about fifty yards down the back. Greedy and Felicity had been silent (though they had had a run-in earlier, but that’s another post. Felicity is not always a wimp). I determined to watch the reactions of G. and F. when the other bird glukked. Sure enough, Felicity responded to the third or fourth gluk from the other bird.

I sat, swinging the glasses from F. to G., and back, watching their reactions. Firstly, Felicity produced just tiny, low-key gluks – but she raised her ruff. A couple of minutes later, the other bird produced a good string of booms. Felicity responded, and moved a little in the direction of the foreign bird. This was the pattern for a couple of minutes: other bird booms; Felicity responds; moves; returns to grazing.

Interestingly, Greedy paid almost no attention at first. I have noted this before, that is, one bird seems to be ‘on duty,’ and others back that bird up later, if necessary.*

Then, Felicity set out at a walk in the direction of the foreign bird. I started sneaking along too. Greedy was, by now, paying attention – ruff raised. Felicity was leading, moving through the gums, with yours truly trying to ‘sneak’ along at a good walking pace. Greedy was following me, in reserve.

Then, there was a rapid increase in the number and volume of the alternating calls of F. and the other bird, and I heard the other bird break and run – literally heard it running through the gums, with F. in pursuit. I walked down, and looked down a goodly number of aisles, but neither bird was to be seen.

*I don’t think I’ve posted this story: Felicity, as you know, is the meat in the pecking-order sandwich, though she acquits herself valiantly when other birds intrude. One afternoon, I witnessed as follows:

Felicity and Mr. and Mrs. Eric were in the clearing. Mr. and Mrs. Eric had been beating up on Felicity all day long. Then, about eight or ten wild birds turned up at the fig tree. Felicity was ‘on duty,’ and went into full-ruffpuff-and-boom mode, and started walking sideways towards the intruders. They backed off a little – but hey, Felicity was well and truly outnumbered. F. got closer. Several of the intruders counter-threatened. A momentary Mexican stand-off resulted. Then, Eric started vocalising, moved in a no-nonsense manner towards the fray, and attacked Felicity!

I’ll never forget the look on the ‘face’ of one of the intruding birds as Felicity fled past it, in complete confusion, with Eric on her heels, through the ranks of the birds that she’d just been threatening with a thrashing.

Supreme Emu

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Vocal Reconnaissance:

Felicity isn’t here this morning (?).

Went out to observe Greedy when I noticed that she looked . . . intent. She stood in the middle of the clearing, looking hard about her, quite clearly ‘on duty.’ A couple of minutes later, a string of booms. Then observation. Then more booms. Then observation – standing tall, perfectly still, and truly, readers, a hard hard look in her eye.

Eventually, she clearly relaxed, and returned to grazing.

I wonder if Greedy’s mating-season is finished? I’ll try to see if any eggs have been added to the nest, but she really seems to be back in normal ‘in residence’ mode.

Supreme Emu

 

[RingedTeal]

Sol how many eggsare in the nest S.E. ?

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Either four or five, M.L. -- but bear in mind that I don't go close. I snuck up when B.E. was stretching his legs. That count was a couple of days ago. I will check again when I can: perhaps Greedy has laid again since.

Supreme Emu

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Hmmm . . .

snippets today:

Boy Emu has started his Second Week. (How do I scratch myself? Let me count the ways!!)

Greedy has been away a day. Perhaps her breeding-season isn’t over!

Still working on the vocal reconnaissance thing. This morning, Felicity came past the window as though the hounds of Hell were on her heels. She hadn’t vocalised. I hadn’t heard anything. (It’s so quiet here that the fan of the computer is the major noise.) She came back just minutes later. I figure she’d been ‘called out’ by a bird off in the gums.

Went down to the top of the corridor at dusk yesterday. I confess: I’m not too troubled if I see no emus: I saw kangaroos playing (mid-winter coats: thick and russet). They box, and bound about like children. There was a pair of wild ducks playing on a pond – ‘playing’? Sure seemed like it. A pair of kookaburras alighted in a tree above, perfectly backlit by the light bronze of late dusk. It’s a miserable job, but someone has to do it!

This morning, I choofed off, in full kit, to stake out the corridor, and ran into two wild birds just coming into the house-clearing. Twenty minutes later, I arrived at the corridor behind a mob of ‘roos that I’d disturbed. The thud-thud-thud- of their feet can be heard for a mile, so no emus were to be seen.

Finally, I am puzzled about my estimates of emu-demography. My confusion arises because I have seen, in ‘high season,’ 64 wild birds pass through the clearing in an afternoon. At this point though – mid-to-late breeding-season – there really do seem to be many fewer birds about. I’ve reported/seen no more than a pair here or there for weeks now; and I have gone walking on a number of occasions, with the intent of sighting flocks. Perhaps half of all adult males are nesting. (Isn’t that interesting! Wouldn’t it be fabulous to somehow know where those dozens and dozens of B.E.’s are patiently sitting! A tiny GPS on a wild bird would be a worthwhile experiment.) But . . . ummm . . . where are the others? Where are last season's chicks? Where are the flocks of fifteen and twenty that are sometimes so easy to spot? A visiting neighbour (a different one), who’s been farming here for decades, reckons emus are territorial, that they sort of ‘migrate’ -- ??

Supreme Emu