- Nov 9, 2013
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Got two of Eric's chicks here. They're almost one and a half. They grow a full coat for their first winter, and somehow it always seems outsize by summer. They also look wonderfully scruffy. Sadly, when these chicks are fully grown -- except if 'Das Beakie Cheeper' remains identifiable, our ability to track Eric's family by his clutches will be over( though we have several adult birds we'll know all their lives, and we can track their clutches if their consorts hatch here). Here is my first-ever post: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/notes-from-the-emu-homeland.357123/#post-4330361 Over seven years ago.
Next: Felicity, now eight years old, has brought a potential consort. His name is 'Groestl.' Very shy. Very vocal. I think she finds her consorts in the National Park, to the south. He may have never seen a human on foot. At first Groestl seemed a little . . . down market, certainly scruffy. But closer inspection shows him to be a likely specimen: tall, with a good gait.
Next: a Formal Note: this thought has been maturing for some years, readers: notwithstanding the claims of 'the literature,' I begin to think that emus don't 'mature' -- begin reproducing -- until perhaps three or even four. It's so interesting to conjecture on this. Captive birds need basically only reach sexual maturity. But in the birds here I see birds, like the female 'Uno Chick,' still clearly getting their bearings in the rough and tumble hierarchy at over three years of age. That is, here in the wild, successful reproduction is not just sexual maturity, but SOCIAL maturity: if you can't flog enough nearby females to gain control of an area for your consort to roost in, then you don't reproduce!
Next formal note: predation and the size of clutches. Again, the literature blah blah blah . . .
is it possible that clutch sizes are NOT primarily determined by predation of the chicks at an early age, but by the fertility of the eggs that the males incubates? My data comes from Eric [my guess is that my project is historically unique: ten years of observations of a single emu family]. His clutch sizes were: three, two, one, three, nine.
Now, Eric was a double-alpha bird -- truly rare -- and thus a thoroughly capable clutch-rearer. How is it the case that one year he loses all but one chick within literally days of the hatch (I have a photo: Uno Chick just weeks old)? but years later manages to turn up here with NINE chicks about two months old?
Here are some random photos:
This bird is Groestl
Next: Felicity, now eight years old, has brought a potential consort. His name is 'Groestl.' Very shy. Very vocal. I think she finds her consorts in the National Park, to the south. He may have never seen a human on foot. At first Groestl seemed a little . . . down market, certainly scruffy. But closer inspection shows him to be a likely specimen: tall, with a good gait.
Next: a Formal Note: this thought has been maturing for some years, readers: notwithstanding the claims of 'the literature,' I begin to think that emus don't 'mature' -- begin reproducing -- until perhaps three or even four. It's so interesting to conjecture on this. Captive birds need basically only reach sexual maturity. But in the birds here I see birds, like the female 'Uno Chick,' still clearly getting their bearings in the rough and tumble hierarchy at over three years of age. That is, here in the wild, successful reproduction is not just sexual maturity, but SOCIAL maturity: if you can't flog enough nearby females to gain control of an area for your consort to roost in, then you don't reproduce!
Next formal note: predation and the size of clutches. Again, the literature blah blah blah . . .
is it possible that clutch sizes are NOT primarily determined by predation of the chicks at an early age, but by the fertility of the eggs that the males incubates? My data comes from Eric [my guess is that my project is historically unique: ten years of observations of a single emu family]. His clutch sizes were: three, two, one, three, nine.
Now, Eric was a double-alpha bird -- truly rare -- and thus a thoroughly capable clutch-rearer. How is it the case that one year he loses all but one chick within literally days of the hatch (I have a photo: Uno Chick just weeks old)? but years later manages to turn up here with NINE chicks about two months old?
Here are some random photos:
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Adorably cute birds 
Love the picture of your skies.
