Planet Rothschildi

[Tame Emu Guy]

K.B. and S.E. have satellite-photo-it is. This mob called ‘Flash Earth’ (do not rush to it. Reference only).


Remember the original Stinky Creek? We observed there ages ago. Then they cut it. We’ve been there since, and to Stinky Creek North. Today, we haven’ t gone quite as far as Stinky Creek, but we’ve gone deeper back.

We crossed the Frankland River Bridge; but hoofing it straight into the scrub from right there is just makin’ it hard. So, you continue about a quarter of a mile up the road, and then head down a tatty old north-south fenceline.

Off we go:


below, we’re sitting short of the big pasture that extends all the way over to Stinky Creek.

This is how we generally do it: when ya got a ‘sliver thing’ goin’ on, you sit down, and take a breather, and watch. It’s a great way of observing:




Next, this is south, the Big Green, with a barrier of commercial timber. There’s a track that runs into the National Park about 800 yards back. I’m sure I have seen emus pass on that track. (We’ve checked the water in the dam two hundred yards up over the hill.):








The green on the left of the photo below is the other side of the ‘dawn ridge’ we saw ‘out back of Oudman’s.’ This is the road down to the dam:

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

!



Recall that today there is a gallery of photos, but our interest is population density. Process of elimination.

Punters, birds are drinking here. Okay . . .

now start casting your mind about. To the north is a no-go zone. The River may or may not be to your direct west, at your elbow.

Behind is a massivo chunk of waterless Park. There is water in just a couple of places – but, apart from actually drinking in the river (??), birds within hundreds and hundreds of yards have just gotta be hittiin’ hard on this water. Full stop.

But there aren't many tracks here. That is, not nearly as many as you'd expect if there were dozens or hundreds of birds living in the swathe of bush south of this point.

Are there big chunks of bush out there with hardly any wild emus in?

Recall we momentarily saw a wild bird on the day we traipsed up Stinky Creek North then crossed to Stinky Creek Original? Single bird? Drifted into sight for one minute? Drifted out?

Yeh, perhaps a population density more like that.

Here’s the dam. Runs north-south. (It’s on a tributary of the River under the bridge we crossed). Can you see the dead trees at the back? Same to the north. Mobs of dead trees showing the low ground:




Find below one S.E. just likes:




I really liked this bit of wood:




We’ve never found a longer set of tracks than the set below. This bird set out towards the softer mud, and simply turned around and left.
S.E. likes this: we have a fix on twenty or thirty seconds of bird behaviour in a single shot.
In other places, the spaces between the tracks were larger or smaller. Birds were moving at different paces.

 

[kbgh]

Is this dam the large one that is south of the fence line below Bangalup road?

The small trees to the left of the track. Young gums?

Obviously the emu use this water hole. Perhaps the advance and turn around was because the mud became too soft and they had the instinct they would get stuck if they proceded to the water. Was there any evidence that they had reached the water at a different location?

Apparently, with the dead trees on the edge, this dam must get quite full at times and thus drowning the close trees.

While doing a little Flash Earth, I've spotted a couple of interesting dams. There appears to be a fairly large dam in the big green pasture south west corner. It is surround by a narrow band of scrub, then due north of this one but across Bangalup Road there is either a natural pond or swamp (almost appears it could be backwater from the Frankland in times of high water.) It is also surrounded by a band of scrub and the a fairly large pond to the east edge of the scrub.

I would assume that both of these locations (the pond in the Big Green and the pond/swamp north) would be prime locations to observe emu coming to and from the water holes. They offer grazing, scrub to hide and water.

Great stump with green growing on top.

K.B.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

[Resting]

Yah, K.B., this is the green triangle-shaped one south of the T-junction of Highway and Bangalup.

The light green saplings visible on the approach to the dam are the regrowths on the stumps of the recently-harvested gums.

The thing about the trees dying? I’m still working on that one.

We are still so short of observations of wild emus drinking. S.E. saw a couple of birds drinking on their knees late one afternoon. A single second. Only time ever.

It would take discipline to get a photo of emus coming to drink. You might have to lie stock still for hours.

S.E.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

[resting]
Extra Bits:





S.E. supposes the track below is a predator. Any ideas? I’m not sure if this is the same type as the last:



S.E.

 

[Raptor65]

Those tracks look like they could be from a Kangaroo's paws. Don't think you'd have Wombats there and they don't look Canid anyway.

 

[kbgh]

Beautiful picture of the sky.

As for the tracks, if they were in the states I'd say large racoon. But as I understand, no racoons in Oz.

Possibly small dingo? Track doesn't appear right for fox. Maybe a feral dog?

I kinda figured the dam picture had to be that one. Just the general appearance.

What we need to do is get you a game camera. You can set it up and it takes pictures when you are gone. Then you won't have to sit on your bum for hours.

Kerry

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

[S.E. outright unwell]

Gee. I think Raptor is right. I think it’s a kangaroo paw! Well done.

K.B., we’ll impress the locals if we turn up a dingo track 500 yards from the highway!

Yes, Supreme Emu delights in the skies.

The photo below is not such a bad one. It’s the track that’s indistinct. I put it in because it’s such a small track for this time of year! Even smaller chicks, perhaps, than the seven on the Corridor. Hmmm, anyone know anything at all about how microclimates could be the pivot here???:





Last photo in this gallery:

Readers, here’s a little thing just between us before S.E. shuts down, and heads for the specialist in Perth.

Oz is not an easy place to love. What the viewer of a painting or photo doesn’t experience is the heat and light and flies.

Have a look at this Albert Namatjira Central Australian Landscape. (There was a print of this on the living-room wall of the house with the dunny out the back.)



Trust me on this one, guys: you could drop dead before you got to the low range in the distance. An experienced Australian would know that. You learn to separate the actual pastel beauty of the scene from what you actually know it would be like sitting under that gum in the foreground. It could be 120 degrees in the shade.

So, check out this shot below. The bit of brown in the foreground is the actual creek bed. There are points within yards of this where the roo tracks are six and eight inches deep where they’ve hammered in files through the last red mud of the creel bed.

My point is that this is rich rich bush by standards. You are justified in initially thinking, ‘Well, it’s pretty hard-looking country!’ Yes it is, guys; but the fact that water remains longer in spots like these means that there is far more growth and colour here – far more – than in thousands of acres of nearby bush. (Five-star spot to get bitten by a snake, too.)





S.E.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

[Have re-written some sections above. My apologies. Wasn’t well, but wanted to get it posted. Off air for a few days.]

 

[chickenzoo]

Hope you start feeling better soon.........