Tooshtoosh and Mrs. Tooshtoosh Mating and Preparing Nest -- OMG OMG!!

[briefvisit]

Search the Net, campers: you won't find a clip like this.

No point in me apologising for the footage.

Wait, back up: I saw T. and Mrs. T. mating about a week ago -- a season early?? And they mated weeks ago -- ?? Tooshtoosh is an orphan: missed some education. The first observed mating ended in T. toppling over like a ninepin. Don't ask me. I got no idea!

So, this morning, S.E. is in the garden at dawn. And I recognised the 'tail-raising' behaviour of the receptive female, and ran wildly into the house to get my smartphone -- video, which has auto-zoom whatsit.

https://imgur.com/L52VPxg

https://imgur.com/4fCAWJV

 

[briefvisit]

The matings observed have lasted literally just a half a minute. So . . . no apologies for the footage.



But it gets better -- but again, let's back up:

the Notes on Greedy and Boy Emu years ago are unique. Two years later, S.E. was horribly ill, and the observations of Felicity Emu and Noddy Big Ears were v. v. poor during the actual incubation. But the 'nesting behaviour'? We learned much more of that from observing Felicity and Noddy than Greedy and B.E.

Ask, and I'll detail this.

And this morning, I was watching for exactly what I saw: about an hour after the actual copulation, T. and Mrs. drifted into the gums, and T. stood quietly vocalising. I watched for a minute, then left them be.

This is awesome, guys!! Fabulously rare.

So, it's all rather cute, rather twee. Mr. and Mrs. Emu make trysts in the gums, and stand for some minutes (the vocalisations are new), quite obviously discussing if this is a good place for boy emoo to sit and incubate.

Noddy Big Ears pecked at the ground, moving a few leaves and twigs about (which is about as much nest as they manage . . . ).

So that's where we are. Watch this space.

SE

 

[briefvisit]

SE just managing a little observation.

From the last time, we're watching for a reality in which the breeding-pair repeatedly 'meet,' and exhibit 'nesting behaviour,' which so far I understand to be: Mrs. watches. Mr. looks intently at the ground, and maybe moves a twig and a leaf about. (In humans, this would be a trip to Ikea, to buy a cot.)

If anyone has experience of this, please post!

I only know this much because on one occasion Felicity and Noddy did it right on the edge of the gums, and I got a good observation.

Then . . . over weeks and weeks, the pair steadily 'homes in' on a smaller and smaller area.

Then one morning only the female turns up for breakfast. Then you go looking smack in the middle of the area in question.

So, right now, we're looking for these meetings.

 

[briefvisit]

Observed a mating again this morning. Very early.

 

[briefvisit]

Still early days. Still most unsure. But . . .

on several days, T. and Mrs. T. have finished their brekkie wheat, and then drifted quietly into the gums just opposite the fig tree. And just stood there.

And this is what we're looking for: 'trysts.' Watch this space.

SE

 

[briefvisit]

https://imgur.com/qKbTxyu

 

[briefvisit]

Sooo exciting!!

T. and Mrs. T. have been jaunting off for a day or more. Very normal autumn behaviour: 'flocking up' with the other wild emus. Okay.

And I have several times seen them doing the 'drifting in to the gums' thing. Same spot each time.

And this morning, I saw what we've been looking for. It's what Felicity and Noddy did: see one bird (It's Tooshtoosh) pecking at the ground? That's the wild emu equivalent of nest building.

So, we now have several copulations. Otherwise normal autumn behaviour. And observations of about a half a dozen of these 'trysts' in the gums. But today was the first with the desultory pecking at the ground.

 

[casportpony]

Thanks for sharing! @Pyxis, check out this thread!

 

[briefvisit]

Update

Two times, Mrs. Tooshtoosh has turned up on her own. Thus, we are almost certain that Tooshtoosh is incubating – we just don’t know where!

Also, Mrs T. – observed this morning – is making classical morning territorial calls: moving about, and emitting strings of serious foomphs.

 

[briefvisit]

Mrs. T. has now turned up on her own three or four times. Doesn't seem to have much appetite.

Much more importantly, though, she spends an hour or more vocalising -- that is, moving from point to point, emitting strings of foomphs. This is, I am sure, territorial behaviour.

And as it is not yet mid-winter, Mrs. T., if she were the reputed hard-hearted emu female, could have choofed off to mate and lay again. It seems so reasonable to assume that Tooshtoosh is sitting quietly nearby, and Mrs. T. is minding their territory.

SE