I thought I might have been wrong about Greedy Emu’s ‘flock’ rendezvousing here. Greedy and Boy Emu have been in and around the house-clearing since they turned up – two good feeds a day. But I didn’t see either the second consort or Orphan Emu for days. This morning, though, they passed through as a group. I have not seen a single other emu in the vicinity for days.
I don’t know that the second consort is indeed a male. It must be that Boy Emu is: ‘he’ has been a unit with Greedy for more than a year now – that is, this is their second mating-season together. However, I think it’s a reasonable guess that Boy Emu and the second consort are both males.
Perhaps the dynamic is this: Felicity is a ‘here emu’; but has left her base to seek a mate with emu flocks in the district. She must be known to them: she was away for seven months last year.
[I know that my emus have ‘maps’ of quite large territories in their memories. My three, for example, have a map of eleven square miles, which includes coming in and out the front gate of the property. I suspect that it’s much much larger than that. I don’t think, for example, that Felicity never travelled more than a couple of miles away during the seven months she was away. Moreover, if she travelled with another flock, then the map of their territory was added to her map. I don’t think a ‘basic territory’ map of sixty or eighty square miles is at all unlikely, to which we add –from articles on the Net – the assumption that flocks will travel a hundred miles to source food and water. Who thinks those travelling groups return to their home territories to breed?]
Greedy is also a ‘here emu’; but she is an Alpha bird, has accreted a flock, including two potential mates; and can and will hold the house-clearing against all comers (which doesn’t mean that she won’t head off to flock up elsewhere. I expect her to.). This is her second mating-season as an adult. Will Boy Emu or the second consort end up sitting on eggs in this vicinity?
I hesitated about posting the following, but knowledge is power: in four years, Eric and Mrs Eric have produced only three chicks that I know of. Those chicks – only two ‘extant’ – haven’t produced any chicks of their own . . . that I know about. I’m not sure that I’m sure that Number One is alive. Greedy suffered an injury as a chick, and very very nearly died – that is, killed by her fellows. I managed to sequester her and feed her. A bird will kill a sibling immediately it appears injured.
Walking in the bush recently, I found the skull and neck vertebrae of a chick on top of a log in the bush – obviously pulled down and killed by a fox. In the old days, it would have been a dingo. My neighbour, a knowledgeable and experienced man, says that eagles out here have snatched off the ground and flown away with piglets! This makes sense in respect of the claim that chicks zig-zag as they flee. An eagle that big – formally measured up to 8’ 2” wingspan – would have a hard time manoeuvring close to the ground.
Yesterday, I found an emu skeleton. The thigh bone was broken – that is, smashed. The skeleton was a hundred yards from the highway. An ugly ugly way to die!
Supreme Emu
