Pyxis' Emu Chat Thread

[N F C]

Probably....but it's fouler...hahaha!

Or is that "fowler"?

 

[briefvisit]

'Why don't we see the white urates in the roost poop like other birds?'

It's there. On the left, just by the stick. But with an older roost poop, it might likely have been washed away by rain. It's not uncommon to find intact poops even two or three seasons old.

 

[briefvisit]

'Thanks again @briefvisit for your sharing your excellent first hand observations!'

I have been sputtering along here for years, B. Pretty blind now, me. It is so pleasant to see interest here again. Six years ago, this thread was a world-leader.

Here's my first post: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/notes-from-the-emu-homeland.357123/

Supreme Emu

 

[briefvisit]

Fine observation this morning:

the two young adult males, LimpyChick and Tooshtoosh, are spending longer and longer away from the house-clearing -- even days at a time. This morning I saw a thing that I've been unsure of:

you can pretty clearly tell by an emu's posture that other emus are nearby. This morning, I was just about to feed L. and T. when I saw them very clearly 'posturing.' I neither saw nor heard any wild emus, but guessed they were close.
And . . . poof! L. and T. disappeared without even eating their brekkie.

We call this 'schmoozing': when emus hang out in fluid mobile groups that are not 'flocks' or other.



SE

 

[Pyxis]

@N F C I know you've popped in here a couple times, so I just wanted to say happy birthday if you see this

 

[N F C]

@N F C I know you've popped in here a couple times, so I just wanted to say happy birthday if you see this

OMG, what a surprise! Thank you Pyxis, I appreciate it (and the party hatted Emu)

 

[briefvisit]

First time ever yesterday:

a wild bird turned up, and for the first time ever, the two young tame-wild males, LimpyChick and Tooshtoosh, both fired up: full male vocalisation, raised their ruffs, and did some sideways-boogie walkin'. Intersting to watch!!

 

[N F C]

First time ever yesterday:

a wild bird turned up, and for the first time ever, the two young tame-wild males, LimpyChick and Tooshtoosh, both fired up: full male vocalisation, raised their ruffs, and did some sideways-boogie walkin'. Intersting to watch!!

That would have been fun to see!

 

[briefvisit]

The almost-eleven years of observations here, readers, have the nature of pastiche, of collage. That is, if I write, ‘Chicks do X and Y,’ then that knowledge may have come from watching wild chicks, or Alpha and Omega, or Uno, or Felicity, Number One, and Greedy.


So, it is the odd case that all the four tame-wild rothschildis we know best are all female. And the two birds presently here, the last of Eric’s eight orphans, are the first males we’ve observed at this age. There are some posts here, about six and eight months old, that contain details about the first vocalisations of male chicks in their last season as chicks. I could not have made such observations just a year ago, because we didn’t have the data.


These two ‘chicks’ – I still call them ‘cheepers’ – are now young adults. Here’s the Note:


Their vocalisations in the last three-five months have been notable: quite clearly male, but a very low volume model of the male call. But they have also periodically turned the volume up a little, and enjoyed about a half-volume male ‘gurk.’ I was quite uncertain about whether they could produce full-volume vocalisations – until yesterday!


The two birds are a bit sooky. All the other six of their clutch (the other orphans) went bush months and months ago. But in just the last six weeks, a very clear pattern has emerged: the two go off overnight, or even for days on end – a record of five days away at this point. And then, as I’ve noted in posts above, they bought home a girl emu! Well, one of them did. LimpyChick is the one who was injured when his Dad was killed; was coddled a little as he recovered; and remains the sookiest. So it is Tooshtoosh, it seems, who has attracted the female.


It is clear, then, that we are watching two young birds in a stage I’ve theorized about: physically mature, but still ‘culturally’ maturing. They go off with wild birds. They add to their ‘memory map.’ We guess they interact with wild birds as what they are: inexperienced and somewhat weak (underweight?) males trying to figure out how it all works. We wish we had the weights of these birds month by month. I’d like to know if they put on a few kilos in their third and fourth years. That extra weight would make all the difference.


A Related Note: lots of work to do on the standard idea that the species is gyno-centric. Yes, they are – but I have seen two breeding-pairs in which the male seemed dominant. Eric was one. So now, having before us perhaps some years of observing the territorial and mating habits of two males, let’s see how that pans out.

We should be ready for the project to end abruptly, though. You see, with the females, they tended to bring their prospective consorts back here. But Limpychick and Tooshtoosh are likely to follow their females, and incubate elsewhere. So we will not see them. UNLESS . . . they do what I think the males do, and lead newly-hatched chicks back to their – the males’ – home territory. That would be fabulous; we’d have a Noo Eric!!!! And new clutches of chicks to observe.

 

[Pyxis]

Sorry for the lack of updates! I gotta get some new pictures, especially now that we have a little snow on ground.

I got the new permanent roof on the emu barn yesterday, woo! Just in time before we start really getting snow. I got slowed down on that after those darn trees fell on it and broke the old roof. But it's up, and it's really nice in there. Lets in plenty of light, and I propped a piece of plywood up over the opening in such a way that the birds can still walk around and get in there, but it'll keep any snow from blowing in the door. I'm sure they'll be fine going around it because they STILL manage to squeeze themselves through the chicken pop door to eat the feed out of the coop

They've still been sleeping outside even with a little snow on the ground, so I'm hoping the new roof entices them to sleep inside. I also put up a small heat lamp as further enticement. It is the most secure heat lamp of all time, lol.