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Hey, Ashburnham!
Of course, no more formal observations, but . . .
It’s ‘cusp time,’ readers; and here below is a style of report that will help pet-bird owners to understand the yearly cycle:
the weather: figs are on (and S.E. is too ill to eat any!). Otherwise, this is the tail end of The Big Jump; and if this hadn’t been a benevolent season, guys, this would be an ugly moment. (Three years ago, during The Long Hard Summer, the figs failed outright, and I saw a wild bird try to eat a leaf of the tree.) Magnificent sunny autumn weather, though. As always, a bit more food around than S.E. tends to estimate: dried seeds and ‘absolute-ground level’ pickings. Autumn rains could arrive any time now: a week, a fortnight. It’ll pour for days; fresh pick will burst forth.
Felicity Emu: female, house-clearing is her home turf. Presently absent, but ‘in orbit.’ We hope – she’s five this winter – that she finds a consort that ‘sticks,’ and breeds this year. Felix was here, briefly, about a month ago.
Eric the Emu: male. Here until recently with the 2012-winter clutch (Alpha and Omega). Has decamped – and that’s because the house-clearing isn’t his home turf. It is a major pasture for him, but he breeds elsewhere. (This data isn’t rock solid. I saw Eric and Mrs. Eric mate here in autumn last year. But Eric is away during winter, and ‘turns up’ here with clutches.)
Alpha Chick: Alpha hung out here for a couple of days after my query about feeding him. I fed him. Then he decamped. I unhesitatingly accepted a knowledgeable breeder’s insight that he was a bit young to go it alone, and should therefore be fed. Gee though but . . . he’s a fast sassy aggressive unit. Drove Felicity up the wall. We hold no fears for Alpha. Let’s hope that these chicks pass through in the next year. They’d be yearlings, but their tameness should make them identifiable. They were not ‘tamed’; but became ‘auto-tame.’
Greedy: female. Also expected here anytime now: this is her home turf (she’s Felicity’s sister). She bred for the first time last year (age four). I am confident she’ll turn up with a consort. Long-time readers will recall S.E.’s breathless excitement over the struggle for control here last spring. Felicity had it over Greedy. Eric knocked Felicity’s crown off. F. and G. haven’t squared off since then.
Now, this remains a pivotal issue. S.E. wonders whether the ‘hot’ reality of this pasture has kept Felicity from mating. Pecking-order resolution of birds like this – one alpha and one double-alpha – lasts three seconds, and decides the dynamic of the clearing here for the entire winter. (Greedy lost out year through illness.)
Fig Tree: the early bird gets the fig. A single bird has been gorging himself for several days. It’s just an odd moment in the cycle. He’s here; the house-clearing birds are not. His blessing looks 100% exactly like vitamised figs – bright green!
Wild birds: S.E. was walking quietly in the autumn sunshine down beyond the corridor. On the ‘boundary’ between ‘the house side’ of the property, and the ‘starvation backblock,’ there is a dam. (We’ve been there.) It’s ‘set down’ a little.
Well, guys!! In five years, I’ve only ever once seen wild birds drinking. But, as I came up over the dam’s bank, I saw a head, then a bird, then a second bird. They stood for perhaps two seconds before they bolted. Lovely birds: dark, good suit of feathers, certainly a breeding-pair.
Forthcoming Months: readers, this will be my sixth winter here. I have ‘retired’ from formal observation; but – thanks to the help of readers – I bring to this mating-season far far more knowledge than I did last year. Reports will be irregular. (Ashburnham is cunning. He knows I’ll write if asked.) Wild birds will throng the fig tree soon. We have a very good chance that Felicity or Greedy (or both?) will ‘pin their consort down’ on a nest close by.
[Got photos, but the system has refused for days to upload them.]
Supreme Emu
Of course, no more formal observations, but . . .
It’s ‘cusp time,’ readers; and here below is a style of report that will help pet-bird owners to understand the yearly cycle:
the weather: figs are on (and S.E. is too ill to eat any!). Otherwise, this is the tail end of The Big Jump; and if this hadn’t been a benevolent season, guys, this would be an ugly moment. (Three years ago, during The Long Hard Summer, the figs failed outright, and I saw a wild bird try to eat a leaf of the tree.) Magnificent sunny autumn weather, though. As always, a bit more food around than S.E. tends to estimate: dried seeds and ‘absolute-ground level’ pickings. Autumn rains could arrive any time now: a week, a fortnight. It’ll pour for days; fresh pick will burst forth.
Felicity Emu: female, house-clearing is her home turf. Presently absent, but ‘in orbit.’ We hope – she’s five this winter – that she finds a consort that ‘sticks,’ and breeds this year. Felix was here, briefly, about a month ago.
Eric the Emu: male. Here until recently with the 2012-winter clutch (Alpha and Omega). Has decamped – and that’s because the house-clearing isn’t his home turf. It is a major pasture for him, but he breeds elsewhere. (This data isn’t rock solid. I saw Eric and Mrs. Eric mate here in autumn last year. But Eric is away during winter, and ‘turns up’ here with clutches.)
Alpha Chick: Alpha hung out here for a couple of days after my query about feeding him. I fed him. Then he decamped. I unhesitatingly accepted a knowledgeable breeder’s insight that he was a bit young to go it alone, and should therefore be fed. Gee though but . . . he’s a fast sassy aggressive unit. Drove Felicity up the wall. We hold no fears for Alpha. Let’s hope that these chicks pass through in the next year. They’d be yearlings, but their tameness should make them identifiable. They were not ‘tamed’; but became ‘auto-tame.’
Greedy: female. Also expected here anytime now: this is her home turf (she’s Felicity’s sister). She bred for the first time last year (age four). I am confident she’ll turn up with a consort. Long-time readers will recall S.E.’s breathless excitement over the struggle for control here last spring. Felicity had it over Greedy. Eric knocked Felicity’s crown off. F. and G. haven’t squared off since then.
Now, this remains a pivotal issue. S.E. wonders whether the ‘hot’ reality of this pasture has kept Felicity from mating. Pecking-order resolution of birds like this – one alpha and one double-alpha – lasts three seconds, and decides the dynamic of the clearing here for the entire winter. (Greedy lost out year through illness.)
Fig Tree: the early bird gets the fig. A single bird has been gorging himself for several days. It’s just an odd moment in the cycle. He’s here; the house-clearing birds are not. His blessing looks 100% exactly like vitamised figs – bright green!
Wild birds: S.E. was walking quietly in the autumn sunshine down beyond the corridor. On the ‘boundary’ between ‘the house side’ of the property, and the ‘starvation backblock,’ there is a dam. (We’ve been there.) It’s ‘set down’ a little.
Well, guys!! In five years, I’ve only ever once seen wild birds drinking. But, as I came up over the dam’s bank, I saw a head, then a bird, then a second bird. They stood for perhaps two seconds before they bolted. Lovely birds: dark, good suit of feathers, certainly a breeding-pair.
Forthcoming Months: readers, this will be my sixth winter here. I have ‘retired’ from formal observation; but – thanks to the help of readers – I bring to this mating-season far far more knowledge than I did last year. Reports will be irregular. (Ashburnham is cunning. He knows I’ll write if asked.) Wild birds will throng the fig tree soon. We have a very good chance that Felicity or Greedy (or both?) will ‘pin their consort down’ on a nest close by.
[Got photos, but the system has refused for days to upload them.]
Supreme Emu
