Twelfth Year of Emooz and Autumn Figs

[briefvisit]

I managed to sneak up on Limpychick. She is ‘eagle eye-ing’ an intruder. Note the tiny bit of chest-feather puff.

 

[briefvisit]

But here is the interesting photo: now she is doing classical 'V-neck' booms. These are the ones -- not in this case -- that females use to communicate over distance during incubation periods

 

[briefvisit]

Limpychick and Tooshtoosh


Every wild emu chick attends the University of Dad. For a bit less than one year, or a bit less than two, Dad shows them his world. And there’s lots and lots here that we don’t yet understand.

But Limpychick? She and her clutch were orphaned by her Dad’s death. And she was injured, but recovered.


So . . . it’s the thing, guys, about the different between physical and ‘social’ maturity for emus. Limpychick is in her third year. This winter is her first chance to breed. But we guess she’s gonna miss the mark. And I wonder if her confusion is a result of having seen less of the world.

Her DNA is telling her some stuff, but she isn’t putting it together.

Tooshtoosh – male – has gone bush. (I reckon off to the south west, over near Lake Muir) That’s good. He’s looking for a mate.

But Limpychick is here, defending her turf. She has been doing those ‘long distance’ booms. She has been patrolling the perimeter. But she has no consort. And she needs to go bush to find one.

And then come back and defend.


SE

 

[briefvisit]

Observation:

I was puzzled for just a second. Limpychick, the female who can't quite figure it out, dropped heavily to her knees, and slumped forward onto her chest. Then it twigged: this is the position the female assumes during mating.

Then she jumped back up again.

I t h i n k, as I've noted, that Limpychick is having trouble fitting together the pieces of the mating puzzle. She is patrolling her turf. She is doing 'long-distance' booms. But she has no consort.