Planet Rothschildi

[Tame Emu Guy]

Magnificent morning here. Wild birds will turn up shortly. I’d bet on it.

For the record, this morning was the first time this summer that I have heard enthusiastic female booms at dawn. So, I suppose that we disregard the calendar month, and remember that it’s about the beginning of the second month of summer.

The chicks found themselves alone in the back yard yesterday while Eric was around the side, pretending not to notice the wild birds. That is, the chicks were alone in the presence of the wild birds. They were about thirty yards apart. You could see quite plainly that they were considering whether to stay ‘trapped’ in the back yard -- because leaving via the usual gap would have put them closer to the wild birds -- or to run past me (under the tamarillo), which they have never yet done – they did it: a quite conscious decision triggered by the wild birds.

Then Eric tried to cross the fence by the plum tree. That is, he eschewed the ten-yard gap in the back fence; and he clearly did so in order that he stay as far away from the wild birds as possible (and he gave me a very anxious moment by getting his toe stuck in the mesh. It took him some seconds to disentangle himself.)

[There’s a tiny patch of grass right in front of the window in front of my keyboard. As the chicks get taller – and they seem to be getting taller by the minute – an occasional head appears about six inches outside the window, looking in at me. Wonderful!!]

Alpha Chick and Omega Chick are becoming distinguishably different in colour. I wonder if careful observations of a good big clutch would reveal that some chickens are noticeably different, that is, that they have different mums? Wouldn’t it be a treat to photograph a wild clutch with, say, two remarkably sandy chicks in it. We that there is perhaps only a person or two on BYC who could conduct such an experiment: such a situation could almost certainly only result in the wild.

I shall go observing:

First pair of wild birds already here – 5:55 a.m.

Hmmm . . . . I just witnessed a strange ‘spazzy’dance. The birds seemed almost frantic – no, they were frantic. (It did happen just about when the wild pair turned up.) The chicks cried out as though in distress. One ran full tilt into a fence (under no ‘pressure’ from anything). I have never seen Eric run at that speed or for so long. Quite a strange episode.

Here is the ‘microcosm’ of the fruit trees/shade/bit of green grass:



S.E.

 

[kbgh]

Wow, did I have some reading to do tonite. For some reason I had not been notified of new post so I had like a full days worth, and you must have had quite a day yesterday.

Do you think the wild emu are only there for the various fruits or perhaps your place is a gathering place for couple to meet. Kinda like a singles bar, huh!!!!!

They may look into the window but I'm waiting for you to tell us they wanted to come in for a spot of tea

or alteast a handful of sultanas.

Kidding aside, great observations.

Kerry

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

As fast as S.E. can type:

welcome to Eric’s Swiss-Cheese Kingdom – full of holes . . .

There are about a dozen birds ‘in play’ here at present. Eric Plus holds the territory under the plum and apricot trees – though it is conspicuous that neither E.P. nor the wild birds present have paid the slightest attention to one another!

Audacious does have only one eye. He remains audacious – the only wild bird game enough to feed on the fig tree on the side from which I was observing. I can't help but think that it is an old bird.

I got a good laugh early on in the observation: it’s not uncommon to see a toosh sticking out from behind a gum down in the block of gums behind the fig tree -- the bird has ‘moseyed’ its head out of sight perhaps. This morning, I saw a head, just like the Bemused Emu Head that you see on postcards, sticking around a tree. Just the head. Watching me. Like a kid playing hide-and-seek.

There are at least six birds at the fig/behind it. (This is what I took pains to explain above: the block of gums behind the fig is both the ‘approach route’ to the fig, and the ‘off side,’ where birds manoeuvre so as to be more distant from S.E./the house/perhaps Eric.) I think Speckles and Sarah are there. I think the breeding-pair from yesterday evening are there. (My tomatoes have grown to obscure the view of the 'important' side of the fig, the eastern side. We'll have to observe from a different place.)

There was a pair on the 'far' side of the house.

S.E.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

[Brief: S.E. unwell]

Female booming at the fig tree. Real mating-season stuff, with ruff and some sideways boogie.
Eric Plus chased her off.

S.E.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Hi, K.B.!!

Funny! I was thinking about this today. I think . . .

food and territory and procreation are a continuum. When you watch these birds at length, you get a sense of energy expended vis a vis food ingested. In a fundamental sense – although, yes, they have siestas and swims in the dam – they don’t have ‘spare time.' I suspect there is always a purpose of sorts.

The desert birds are the clearest insight into this.

So, a bird’s territory/territories is determined in part by birth. The chicks are raised somewhere.

Within that territory and the territories that they discover*, they fight for access to food and water.

Wherever they can ‘hold’ a place/places that provides sufficient food, they can seek a mate. If they were underfed and therefore weak, they won’t likely attract a mate, or they wouldn't even try. (We might wonder if there is a biological signal that a male's body sends it if a season has been so poor that that bird doesn't have the fat -- literally, the pad of fat -- it needs to last the two-month incubation, especially in colder ranges. Some mammals do something like this.)

So, I reckon the fig tree/house-clearing is a pairing-up-season/mating-season simply because the food is here.

(Our species does quite similar things. Think mediaeval village or around a caveperson campfire: the eating and courting go hand in hand)

And the emus finding their way into the kitchen? to make their own cheese-and-tomato sandwiches? I have been waiting for years for this one!! Greedy used to go into the chickens’ pen to steal their wheat, so she’ll go into a confined space. Felicity will walk through the carport. I have seen Felicity standing looking wistful at the door of the feed room.

S.E.

*For example, K.B., Felicity was away with foreign birds for seven months. She must have covered a deal of ground.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Swiss cheese! Swiss cheese!

A pair of wild birds (Speckles and Sarah?? – couldn’t get a clear look) just confronted Eric Plus under the plum tree.

Didn’t see it clearly. Eric fell over the fence trying to get to them. Two forays followed. Eric and Alpha drove the pair off; they returned; were repulsed a second time -- that's three 'rounds,' rather unusual.

All this time, Omega stayed under the plum tree, scoffing up the plums that the parrots were dropping.

Through the binos, I saw Alpha charge (ahead of Dad, you guessed it) at the pair, and do that screech-to-a-stop-and-‘bristle’ thing. Luckily for Alpha, the twenty-times-bigger-than-him bird was paying attention to Eric.

This morning S.E. made some notes on ‘emu language’; but it may be wise not to start another project. However, I find, as I listen to the goings-on down the back, that my ‘emu’ is getting fairly good. With my eyes closed, I can still roughly understand what is going on.

The ‘orbit’ of the chicks is getting steadily bigger. It’s indicative that one chick can ‘stand neutral’ while the rest of Eric Plus is fighting forty yards away.

S.E.

 

[chickenzoo]

Very busy Emu interactions going on over there....lol

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

E.H., I would always be pleased to have BYC-ers here; but this is the time of year to visit. Although it’s true that the best observations are made when the observer is ‘invisible,’ you guys could still quite literally sit with a cup of tea in the garden and watch Wild Emu World right smack in front of you, including both territorial and mating-behaviour.

S.E.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

[Sup-optimal at present; but there’s a lot of summer left.]

K.B.’s question about whether the birds come to eat or court or both deserves further attention. Speckles and Sarah were at the fig tree at 5:45 a.m. Is this the first pasture of their day? How far away did they roost? This is the first year in which S.E. has identified specific birds coming to the fig tree. In past years, it was just phalanxes of birds. (Don’t worry: phalanxes will turn up later.)

There is some definite territoriality going on here -- that is, S. and S. (and perhaps others) are clearly somehow 'in orbit.'
S. and S. Let’s keep an eye out for regular attendance.

Came into the back yard at 1:00 a.m., to find a small kangaroo eating the grass at the septic tank. It just sat there, about twelve or fourteen feet away in the moonlight.

Got a cushion and sat and listened. Heard at least one female calling, quietly, and I think a brief brief reply from a male.



S.E.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

For the interim, readers, please accept some ‘guerilla photos’ taken with the Sad Old Camera. The problem is not so much one of technology as the fact that it would require hours in a hide to get certain photos, and it’s certainly over a hundred in the shade at this second.

I neglected to note that 80% of the activity happens at a ‘dawn session’ and a ‘dusk session.’ We shall think about where the birds go between times.

Ahh!! food and movement!!:

roost somewhere; first pasture of the morning; fig tree? (or is it first?); ‘withdraw’ (pastures in the heat of day? Swims? Siesta?); return to fig tree at dusk; retire to roost.’

Here below is Speckles, come right up to the carport (about 8:00 a.m.). Sarah was hard by.










Eric drove them off – but the dynamic has changed.

May I introduce the term ‘accommodation’? Accommodation is a Swiss Cheese Kingdom. Eric is undoubtedly a major player, but he can longer hold the whole house-clearing. So – my joke about Strategic Withdrawal was close to the mark! – he gives ground or withdraws temporarily.

Check out the photo below, taken at the same time as the one of S. and S. Apart from this being an accommodation, note that Alpha – the belligerent chick – is standing hard by Eric. Omega is . . . off somewhere. (And look how tall Alpha is! That's hiss head sticking up over Eric's toosh!)




We shall wait to confirm the following: yesterday afternoon, after the kerfuffle under the plum tree, Eric Plus wound up in . . . the carport!! They were only standing in its entrance, but it was unusual behaviour. I sense also that Eric is ‘playing on’ the sanctity of the backyard: certainly no wild bird will pursue him into it. (Greedy would!!)

Whatever, readers, what we are observing at present is a much ‘higher density’ emu environment. That’s a little un-natural, but it will give us great insight. (In a perfect project, the fig tree would be a mile from anywhere, and Supreme Emu would be watching through a periscope – that is, unseen – from an air-conditioned underground bunker. Send your cheque to . . . )

It is of note that we now have a range of ‘tame 01’ birds. Look at the photo below:




It's Audacious. He’s just to the right and behind the fence post. My point is that this bird has only been into the house-clearing a half a dozen times, and he hardly moved after I photographed him.

He interests me greatly (and I could give him an eyepatch for a New Year’s Day present.) ‘Audacious’ is a good-enough name, but it strikes me that he is more so cunning. He knows the ropes. For example, it’s hot enough to fry an egg on your hat at this second. Every other emu has withdrawn . . . except Audacious!! He’s knocking of the grapes.

Next: ‘Silvereyes’ are a bird that drinks in numbers at the bird bath. They ‘stage’ from a tree, to the fence above the bird bath, to the bush by the bird bath, to the bird bath, and they complain vociferously about everything at the same time (and they are demons for pecking holes in your tomatoes). I really like them (better camera! better camera!).







[S. and S. are still here!! Holy!! It’s hot!! Perhaps 105.]

Finally, check out the photo below. I’ll be disappointed if all you Planet Rothschildi Junior Trackers don’t immediately identify it as the cloddin’ great footprints of a roo that has barrelled across my garden under last night’s moon.


S.E.