Twelfth Year of Emooz and Autumn Figs

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All observations here are pastiches. Bits and pieces of years of watching (wild and tame-wild) emus become a whole.

And Eric’s death let us observe (these orphan) chicks during a period for which we’ve never had observations.

[LimpyChick, Tooshtoosh, and two clutchmates at about seven seasons. Note that, all nearing adulthood, they still sit close.]


LimpyChick is a female!!

So, six of the eight chicks ‘went bush’ at about seasons seven and eight – we count an emu as adult in the spring of its third year. So, chick-hood is eight seasons.

‘LimpyChick’ and ‘Tooshtoosh’ have stayed. At about Season Seven, they had stopped cheeping, and begun making low-key grunts. By season Eight, both would occasionally emit a fairly spirited grunt or two.

I assumed they were both male.

But in the Eighth and Ninth seasons – young adults – I wondered why LimpyChick got bigger, with a t I n y bit more plumage.

However, the last two days, s/he’s emitted ‘foomphs,’ so s/he’s got to be female. So, now we know a bit more about vocalisations.


The Action at The Fig Tree

The fences hereabout were changed several years ago: the house-clearing is much less an ‘emoo thoroughfare’ than it used to be. But for two mornings running, I’ve been out at first light, trying to get footage for BYC folks.

 

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Once again, the photo is rubbish.

For two mornings, one or more wild birds have tried their luck gettin' to the fig tree. I guess the pattern is:

the interlopers roost at some distance, maybe a half a mile. At first light, they start moving towards the target. Now, in other types of incursions -- from feistier groups -- they announce their coming.

But when they don't, it's astonishing to see how the 'home team' birds figure it out. And the defence I call 'operating': the home-team birds 'operate' against the insurgents.
Yesterday, LimpyChick fired up, did just a second or two of foomphing and sideways boogie, and headed off towards the invaders. I quietly followed. But couldn't get a sighting. But we know that the invaders are pretty lightweight, as LimpyChick nonchalantly 'escorted' several hundred yards away.

 

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So, rubbish photos; but unique:

this is Felicity two or three years ago, singlehandedly 'escorting' five wild birds off her turf: "Leave now, quietly, or I'll flog you all -- clear??"

 

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So, Tooshtoosh? standing alone in the gums (plantation gums)? He's operating. In this case, the splended stock-still-eagle-eye-in-one-direction model, and if you are drinking coffee in the garden at dawn at this time of year, it's a no-brainer to pick this: bam! All resident birds go stock still, staring in one direction. A female may 'fire up': vocalise and do a bit o' boogie. But also do the eagle eye thang.

And as I've noted elsewhere: these interactions come in an infinite number of variations, from a single exploratory call from the bush that sparks a bit of eagle-eye-ing, to breathtaking battles in which a player who judges him/herself able to 'take' the home team will walk into the clearing and initiate an all-out brawl.

Supreme Emu, Lake Muir, W.A.

 

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https://i.imgur.com/OdbqutO.mp4

 

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https://imgur.com/GRWBfj9

Me struggling with uploads of clips of spazzy dancing. But this is a tame-wild bird in the crazy-running part of a dawn spazzy dance.

 

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https://imgur.com/a/gxanCA4

OMG OMG!! If I do a little dance, they do a little dance

 

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Tooshtoosh Gone Bush

Tooshtoosh, the young male, has gone bush, finally breaking the ten-season bond with the last of his clutch. Let’s see if he pops back in. Our guess is that he’s crossed to the National Park, where the wild emus hang out.

Meanwhile, here is Limpychick, the female:

See her chest feathers are raised a tiny bit? That’s mating season. And she now vocalizes in the a.m. (absolutely one of my favourite farm-house things, over the years!) And she has begun vocalizing during the day time.

Limpychick is sizing up to be a player. It seems she has recovered from the injury that gave her her name. She now weighs perhaps five kilos more than Tooshtoosh, and her plumage is more lush.

The fly in the ointment is that there are no males around. Limpychick is clearly staking out territory. But normally she’d either already have a consort. Or she’d be away finding one, and then they’d come back and stake out territory.

Final Note: it’s a year since we’ve seen Uno Chick (the adult female). A long time since we’ve seen Number One (female). And nearly a year since Felicity passed through.


Supreme Emu, Lake Muir, W.A.

 

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https://i.imgur.com/Cn9bgWm.mp4

Not spazzy dance. But nice mating-season behaviour.

Limpychick remains confused about how mating-season works. She's doing the whole thing fine -- guarding her territory; vocalising to warn intruders; puffing up her feathers.

She just doesn't have a consort.

S.E.

 

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Wheeee! We shall call this 'Blur.' It is genuine spazzy dance. There's no doubt that emus like to spazzy dance. I remember watching Alpha Chick and Omega Chick doing btgju. They luuuurved it. Would run around completely out of their minds.

(Those were the mornings we figured out that Dad and chicks sleep breast to breast in a circle.)