Tooshtoosh Has Brought His Chicks

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Got a chick somehow left behind by Dad and the other four chicks. It has cheeped itself hoarse. Let's see what happens.

No sighting of LimpyChick or 'Con' for some time.

And it's only six weeks to when Tooshtoosh would theoretically be sitting on his next nest of eggs. So, will he stick with the chicks? or boot them any second now? Watch this space.

SE

 

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Tooshtoosh and The Gang of Five are under close observation. Will he dump the chicks any day now? Or skip off to mate and hatch this winter?

The chicks are increasingly independent, although one got left behind the other day – somehow Tooshtoosh and its siblings literally left it behind when leaving the house-clearing – and spent an hour running about, cheeping piteously.

The bird in the photo is Tooshtoosh’s sister, ‘LimpyChick.’ You recall that she was here with a consort about a month ago. So, she has returned without ‘Con.’ This leaves us to question: did she and Con mate and lay a month early – my understanding is that males sit to hatch spot on the middle of winter – or did she and Con not breed?

Now, readers, you dig why the males are the backbone of the observation project: they are the ones that we get a better chance to observe here, either incubating or when they bring a clutch here for the plums.

And the photo of the male and nine chicks at my back door? That’s Eric the Emu, four years ago. And LimpyChick is one of the cheepers with Eric.

Suoreme Emu
Lake Muir, W.A.

 

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Tooshtoosh turned up at dawn with just three chicks. Have the other two gone bush? Let's see

 

[Ursuline Chick]

Will Tooshtoosh mate and create a new family while he still has chicks following him around?
Or will he wait until the other three chicks "go bush" before he resumes finding a new mate?

 

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Will Tooshtoosh mate and create a new family while he still has chicks following him around?
Or will he wait until the other three chicks "go bush" before he resumes finding a new mate?

Welcome, Ursuline. The thing to dig here is emus are a much less understood species than you might think. So, ‘Planet Rothschildi’ is about 4,500 days old. We have much data, but many things are far from clear.



So: no, a male is on his own when he forms a breeding-pair.

And our focus in on Right Now – the middle month of winter. As I understand it, Tooshtoosh either boots the chicks today, and begins a frantic search for a mate – he’d theoretically have to be sitting on a nest of eggs within a fortnight.

Or . . . he foregoes his chance to mate this year, and continues parenting this same clutch for another year.

 

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Yesterday, Tooshtoosh plus three. This morning, Tooshtoosh plus five.

And I note that LimpyChick, the female (Tooshtoosh’s sister), is vocalizing much more at night. When don’t know if she bred this winter.

But I’ll bet a bottle of beer that, if the chicks leave/are booted, LimpyChick will immediately launch a palace coup, an attempt to gain control of the house-clearing.



And: we have no actual observation of a male ‘divesting’ himself of a clutch. The notion that the chicks would just wander off of their own accord hadn’t occurred to me simply because they even at their present age – they’re almost two metres high – they still cheep piteously if separated from their Dad for even a minute.



So, we watch and wait.



Supreme Emu