Pyxis' Emu Chat Thread

[biophiliac]

I got a lilly-pilly knocker-downer stick here, a fourteen-foot length of poly pipe, and I give the lilly pilly tree a good walloping, which brings down showers of the purple berries. The wild emus come from miles around to eat them.

I don't think we have Lilly - pilly here. But if there were Emu, they might like our elder berries instead, easier to reach.

The leaves could be toxic though....

 

[briefvisit]

Lilly pillies are native to Oz, so you may not have them.

And my tree has some space beneath; and in season, if you mosey out of the car port, you catch the wild emus off guard. They come high-speed long-steppin' out from underneath, necks outstretched to stay low. Then their heads pop upright as they accelerate off across the clearing. Then they stop. And stand patiently, waiting for me to go away, so they can sneak up to the tree again.

This goes on for months.

SE

 

[Pyxis]

My neighbor saw me outside taking care of the birds a couple days ago and came over to say hi. She brought her little french-bulldog type toy dog with her. It started barking at Ciara through the fence. Ciara drew herself up to her full height and started advancing on the dog. So I told my neighbor, hey, she can't get over the fence, but if your dog slips in there when I open the gate (I was going to go into the pen to do stuff) this is a fight between a bird and a dog that the dog is definitely going to lose.

She picked her dog back up onto the golf cart she had ridden over on, lol. I'm not worried about her dog bothering the birds when I'm not there or anything, she's a good neighbor and used to have poultry herself. I just thought it was funny that her tiny dog thought barking at Ciara was a good plan. $10 says the dumb little thing wouldn't have been so confident without a fence between them.

 

[biophiliac]

My neighbor saw me outside taking care of the birds a couple days ago and came over to say hi. She brought her little french-bulldog type toy dog with her. It started barking at Ciara through the fence. Ciara drew herself up to her full height and started advancing on the dog. So I told my neighbor, hey, she can't get over the fence, but if your dog slips in there when I open the gate (I was going to go into the pen to do stuff) this is a fight between a bird and a dog that the dog is definitely going to lose.

She picked her dog back up onto the golf cart she had ridden over on, lol. I'm not worried about her dog bothering the birds when I'm not there or anything, she's a good neighbor and used to have poultry herself. I just thought it was funny that her tiny dog thought barking at Ciara was a good plan. $10 says the dumb little thing wouldn't have been so confident without a fence between them.

Ciara defends her territory. Wouldda liked to see that!

 

[briefvisit]

'Ciara defends her territory.'

If called upon, the male of a breeding-pair will snap into action, to help defend the pair's territory. But otherwise, it's hilarious to see the males stand around like potted palms while the females defend the territory.

SE

 

[briefvisit]

Got another wild emu sneaking up to get lilly pillies.

Tooshtoosh doesn't run away when I appear. Mrs. Tooshtoosh moseys away a dozen paces. Tagalong Emu bolts thirty yards and stops. But this latest one runs off into the gums.

It's such fun to see how quickly they get tame (in the absence of noise etc.)

SE

 

[briefvisit]

This is wild-emoo country. The white blossom has a subtle but delightful scent.

https://imgur.com/qCvHnyE

 

[briefvisit]

Twelfth year of this blossom. A powerful scent, in full bloom only two days each year.
Every rothschildi we've tamed has hung out under this tree, as chick and adult:

Eric, Mrs. Eric, Felicity, Number One, Greedy, Alpha, Omega, Boy Emu, Noddy Big Ears, Uno Chick, all of Eric's clutch of nine, including Limpychick and Tooshtoosh, and now Mrs Tooshtoosh.

SE

 

[briefvisit]

Change is the only constant: sad times

I had a glass of wine in the garden yesterday evening, and reminisced, and felt sad.

'Planet Rothschildi,' the territory surrounding the old farmhouse I rented eleven years ago, was always just a glitch in the system: bankrupt blue-gum corporations, unrepaired fences, the withering community of the district.

But this morning, the big yellow chomper-muncherator began tearing into the gums: harvesting has begun.

Now, the emus (and the mustangs) will be okay -- they'll just run away for a while. And by Christmas I'll know what comes next: if the fences remain unrepaired, the birds will return because it's the food in the house-clearing they come for, not the blue gums. And we will have some fine photos of the natural bushland around me.

But . . . sigh . . . the Sunday evenings in particular have been an embarassment of riches for me: no human sounds, the air as clear as crystal, the cries of dozens of species of birds, and Eric and his descendants quietly grazing by the fig tree.

Supreme Emu, Lake Muir, W.A.

'Many are the mighty things, and nought is more mighty than [woman/]man. . . . He masters by his devices the tenant of the fields.' Sophocles

 

[Pyxis]

I've just moved the babies into a pen that shares a fence line with Ciara's pasture. So far so good. Ciara seems interested in them, but not too interested, and hasn't displayed any aggression. The babies handled the move well and don't seem to be afraid of Ciara at all.

The fence dividing them is only four feet, so technically Ciara, and maybe even the babies, could jump it, but Ciara generally respects fences and I don't think they'll try.