Dawndawn here at this second. Cool and fine. Gonna walk up and check on Eric Plus.
Felicity Plus was here most all day yesterday. While E.P. was away, she seemed almost homesick, walking around and around the house: through the backyard, through the carport; standing looking in the window.
Did see a pair of birds down behind the fig – M.F. and A.?
E.P has beaten me to it. They were about to ‘move out’ when I saw them. S.E. will try again soon.
Felicity and Felix are here. They clearly roosted nearby – Felicity got here even before E.P. They didn’t vocalise on arrival. S.E. gave E.P. wheat, on the far side of the house, out of sight. Then, when Felicity did have a little kook-kook, S.E. started counting. E.P. turned up a mere minute later. We need more data on this.
Felix got a good feed of wheat behind the fig tree – I fed Felicity twice. Again, she seemed interested in being at the house. Felix hooked into the first ration of wheat, which S.E. put down behind the fig tree. This Whole Farmhouse Thing must be beginning to make sense to him!
S.E. watched all five birds again during the morning power-play. I think Felix may turn out to be a contender. I wish you could have been watching through the binos as E.P. came down on their first sweep. This morning, truth to tell, Felicity outright bolted; but, once again . . . Felix seemed unfazed. He did withdraw – but bear clearly in mind the ‘home-ground factor’: E.P. and Felicity pay no attention to S.E.. Felix remains very much on edge. Still, though, he raised his ruff (didn’t vocalise), and withdrew just a short distance.
Is Eric Getting Old?
Here on the Planet, readers, we tell it like it is. Anything else is a waste of readers’ time. Eric was an ‘established’ emu, S.E. reckons, when S.E. got here. We have no idea how old Eric actually is. I have read in at least one place (big deal!) that wild birds only live around ten years.
Are we witnessing Eric’s twilight?
Gee, guys, this is ugly! Does every wild emu die at the hands of its fellows? Killed the moment it can no longer hold its place? Does anyone have any data at all on this?
Finally, on a cheery note, ‘auto-taming’: S.E. has made no attempt at all to tame the chicks. E.P. receives a double handful of wheat twice a day. We note also the ‘general protocol’: S.E. always (a) moves quietly around the birds, (b) talks to them quietly, and (c) avoids ‘constraining’ them in any way, that is, for example, moving so as to place them between S.E. and a fence or wall.
Amazing!! Three or four times yesterday morning, Alpha Chick snuck into the carport, right up to the feedroom door. When S.E. is around the house, we four move almost as a family unit – the chicks happily wander along about eight or ten feet away.
[Wild cheepings and gruntings and tearings-around-in-the-gums going on as I type. The chicks really do get worked up during what is, in simple effect, combat. Rather like an eleven-year-old following a combat patrol around in Vietnam.]
S.E.
