Planet Rothschildi

[Tame Emu Guy]

Mystery Female Observed

Right time, right place, guys!!

Just happened to be having a rest . . .
Just happened to be sitting by the house . . .

First, I observed Audacious doing his latest thing, quietly skirting the house-clearing. (You either see the movement in the trees, or you spot them as they cross the various open spaces, like the tracks.) S.E. moved out quietly to observe him.

Then . . . I saw a bird standing right on the other side of the clearing, down near the fig, but standing in the open (on the track). At first I thought perhaps that this second bird was Audacious, and the first bird I’d spotted was simply a passer-by; but no: the bird near the fig began to boom.

She’s quite a nice specimen, perhaps not quite top-shelf; but seems to be in good condition. She and Audacious exchanged vocalisations for perhaps fifteen minutes while I sat in between. (They are still out there; but I gotta post this and get back to work.)
She uttered four or five good strong strings of booms from the almost-crouching position. One string of 18 and one of 20 – that’s good!

Audacious replied, and his vocalisation sounded a little novel. Let’s see if there are repeats on that one.

She kept her ruff thoroughly raised for a long time, and even did a little tucking-in of her neck.

She then advanced quietly into the house-clearing (‘tame03’?). She was careful to keep greenery between us; but I had the binos focussed, sat very still, and got good observations at she drifted across the gaps

We note that she approached Audacious. We note that these guys seem too busy to graze. We note that maybe we should think about how/why/when ‘forming-pairs season’ becomes ‘breeding-season.’

S.E

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Morning, K.B.!!

‘Yes’ on the pictures of the gums. You can actually see this on the satellite photos.

What K.B. is commenting on, readers, is how the gums are in blocks, which leaves tracks between them.

It’s worth mentioning. For example, apart from the fact that the birds themselves use these tracks – both the kangaroos’ tracks in the bush, and the human-made tracks on the plantations – Supreme Emu also uses them to great advantage. He would leave his bones by some fence somewhere if he couldn’t cover distances on those tracks.

For example, we covered less than a mile ‘off road’ when we visited Stinky Creek North recently simply because there was no track, and S.E. was at times really sloggin’ hard to get through the scrub by the river. (Some miles of walking otherwise; but the hard section was that ‘off track.’)

[Mystery Female has drifted back past the window, and is again enthusiastically Calling All Male Emus from down by the fig tree. Wonderful! We have about sixteen weeks in which to gorge on info before the Project ends. I am really looking forward to it.]

There is also a track in The 500 that we use, guys. It allows a soundless ‘drift’ for five or six hundred yards, right down past the nursery, and allows us to pick up occasional easy data on population density.

Is a new female trying to attract Eric? Good question, K.B. . . . but I would first like to figure out when Eric becomes available. This morning’s effort looked more like Eric Plus engaged in the usual territorial stuff rather than Eric himself paying attention to the Mystery Female.

(And long-term readers would know that, because the females fight for the males’ favours, and because Eric is a double-alpha bird, then Mrs. Eric herself is very likely a bird that you’d think twice about getting in the ring with!!)

[Boom boom boom boom . . . ]

S.E.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Audacious Audacious!!

Audacious (I’m pretty sure it’s Audacious) has started sneaking up to forage under the lilly pilly tree. [The lilly pilly tree is a native. There’s a big one by the house. It attracts lots of birds in mating-season. I thought it was a bit early yet.]

Meanwhile, Mystery Female is really cranking it up. Overall, she has been booming for several hours today.

In recent days, Eric Plus have not turned up for some of their feeds, and are therefore roosting near the house a little less often.

And it’s delightful to see, every day, the two chicks unconsciously increasing the size of their ‘orbit’ around Eric, who, however, is still the archetypal panicked parent when he realises (sometimes a little tardily, I gotta say . . . ) that he left the chicks on the bus. When it happens, he grunts; jerks into action; and runs, head down, in obvious semi-panic to wherever the cheeps are coming from.

More on the chicks: what a patient observer really can identify is the dynamic between each chick's personal curiosities/hunger, the desire to be near its sibling, and the desire to be near its dad. For example, it only ever seems to be Omega that gets underfoot and trodden on. We note also that the Eric-with-Alpha-at-his-side-while-Omega-ignores-it-all grouping is clearly not a one-off.

Finally, the chicks have definitely figured out that Supreme Emu is Wheat Guy. When I hove into sight, especially, say, on the far side of the clearing, the pair of them make a confident bee-line towards me, with Eric ambling hopefully along behind them.

S.E.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Guys, here’s something to learn (and I welcome anecdotes from others on this one):

Pop back up to this morning's first post, the one with the photos. S.E. didn’t notice this until just now:

we were actually trying to get a photo of another bird, which had just dashed into the gums on the right. S.E. was going to move to photograph it when the bird behind Eric came into view. My point is: look at Eric’s posture. I have intended for some time to post about this (and I shall get some photos forthwith).

It’s a real ‘pointing-terrier’ thing, readers. Have a close look at the photo. See how ‘neat and square’ Eric is standing? That’s it!!

For example, suppose you are observing in the bush. You can hear three or four birds, but you can only see two. Well, if one of the two visible birds is doing a recognisable ‘terrier-point,’ you know for sure the direction in which at least one of the unseen birds is. It’s a behaviour of the same class as the one whereby birds (male and female, at times) orient themselves to birds calling at a distance.

S.E.

 

[kbgh]

I have looked and looked at that photo.

I am assuming that Eric is the "statue" dead center facing right, one of the chicks in the foreground appears to be running up, but where the hell is the stranger. I may have old man eyes but I wear glass and still can't see her. K.B.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

HI, K.B.,

Yes, Eric is the 'statue,' and the stranger is clearly visible, 'standing' on Eric's toosh.

The chick is moseying.

S.E.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Technology:

‘kay. I’ve spoken to my Computer Guy. S.E. goes to Perth to see a specialist next Monday. There are already better photos on the memory card of ‘The New Camera.’ Within ten days – I apologise: it’s poverty and logistics – we will have better quality photos . . . which S.E. himself is actually really looking forward to:

do it once; do it well.

S.E.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

[Still some disruptions forthcoming, then a really good run of data.]

Got the drop on Audacious this morning. Is that ethical? Sneaking up on a one-eyed emu?

S.E. was in a different spot, taking a break, just watching the fig tree. Audacious stepped out from behind it, and I swear that he checked to see if I was under the tamarillo tree; but I was under a bush further over.
I frankly love to sit and watch the fig tree and the block of gums behind it. You can -- you need to -- sit and watch really patiently. A couple of days ago, after watching for ten or twenty minutes, I saw Eric's head about a foot of the ground. Just his head. He and the chicks had been sitting there quietly all the time. It took me several minutes more to find 'the chicks,' a timy hump of feathers nearby.

Audacious called Mystery Female this morning. It was quite obvious that they were talking to themselves: low ‘gurks’ from him; quiet booms from her. This will be the first time we have -- if it happens -- watched a pairing-up. S.E. shall try hard to get longer observations of the pair. We want to see how emus court -- and where are these guys grazing?

To S.E.’s amazement, the combination of Views from the Winter Thread and this thread is now somewhere around 5,000!! Just a little more floor-scrubbing, and a quick trip to Perth, then we will dig in, loyal readers, and finish all outstanding projects, and a number of others.


Quick trip to town:

You may recall that I mentioned two birds that I see in a paddock with a dam. S.E. is always zipping past on someone else’s ticket. I think they are pets -- ‘paddock emus.’ Each time, just a glimpse of them; but I note that they have remarkable suits of feathers: long heavy tooshes, and almost a ‘fringe’ of feathers all around.

Just nearby, once again – 95 in the shade – was a bird happily grazing on the ‘soak’ by the side of the highway that I’ve mentioned. I see water lying by the road. It must be a sort of semi-subterranean creek. There’s a patch of swamp reed growing on it. Whatever, if readers could see the scorched-to-yellowy-white grass in the paddocks surrounding it, they’d know why those birds are grazing there.

S.E. remains uncertain whether Mystery Female wants to mate with the farmhouse. When S.E. went to the loo at midnight – switching on the light – a series of booms came from the darkness behind the fig tree. Maybe they are also booming when S.E. is asleep, but it’s getting past co-incidence that I so often hear a string of booms when I switch the farmhouse lights on late at night.

Final note, aficionados:

bear in mind that Eric and the chicks could disappear any time now. It’s the nature of the beast – no fences here!

Eric has brought this year’s clutch to what is, from his perspective, merely a pasture. Okay, it’s the very best pasture of all, but it is still just a pasture. We shall watch closely to see if their attendance for feeds of wheat continues to be irregular.



S.E.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Opinions, please:

I’ve deleted a paragraph that I posted earlier. It was about where the birds around here are ‘based,’ but its logic was sloppy.
The problem is that, although I have learned a good deal about emus, the chronology is really sketchy. The birds have, at times, disappeared for months; and they have left for longer periods as they’ve got older.

It wasn’t until we started the Winter Thread that many things began to ‘gel.’

So, Eric has been here all along. He was an old alpha bird when I got here in Autumn, 2008. He is not ‘imprinted’ here if that means that he comes here to breed or that he spends most of his time here. He has been here for several long periods – including when he brought Greedy, Felicity, and Number One here (the first clutch), and now Alpha and Omega (the second clutch).

Are Greedy and Felicity ‘imprinted’ here? Gee, guys, what does ‘imprint’ mean? Greedy has bred here. That’s getting close. I think Felicity would have bred here if she could have.

But our data is just too sketchy too be very helpful: both these birds have spent somewhat less time here as they have gotten older, and we’ve talked before about how they seem to ‘time-share’ in some sketchy way.

And perhaps it’s wise to leave it at that!!

[Here’s a note:

S.E. often salutes the ‘long-term’ readers; but even those who followed the Winter Thread from day one may not know that S.E. posted notes long before that. Somewhere ‘back there’ is a text called ‘Notes from the Homeland,’ I think, and I think it was my first post. Emu Hugger remembers back that far.]

We are unsure about whether the sex of an emu determines where it imprints.

All that is fairly sure is that Eric the Emu doesn’t seem to breed here (though he was here early last mating-season); but he brings his clutches here; and that the two chicks I tamed (both females) seem to want to breed here.

S.E.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Aggression Practice:


Firstly, the parent emu drags the wheelbarrow into position, explaining to the chicks that they must imagine it is an intruder, and attack and fiercely peck it.








Then Omega breasts the enemy, Wonky Wheelbarrow Emu.




Then Alpha steps up to the plate. More aggressive, Alpha gives that barrow a good peckin’. Eric offers advice, ‘Good – but feet apart. Really lean into that peck!!’





Nah . . . actually, when I cleaned out the feed room, some wheat wound up in the barrow, and I found the chicks knocking it off when I came out this morning.

S.E.