Wild Emus at The Lilly Pilly Tree

[briefvisit]

Maybe, Antique.

But you are beginning to get the hang of this method. We observed a young female. She seems to have taken a consort much earlier than is usual. They have headed into the wild blue yonder.

Now we sit and watch some more!!

SE

 

[briefvisit]

‘random other emu’?

Who remembers that we discussed second-year chicks that were undersized but had splendid plumage?

GB was one. That was how she looked when we first saw here, about 8-10 months ago: a little under-sized, but with oddly lush plumage.



And she was with another chick who looked the same. Now, that second chick drifted off some time later; but it became tame enough to enjoy a bit of wheat first.



Well, for the last week or ten days, I’ve watched this ‘random other emu’ wandering about. Under the plum tree. In the back yard.



So I tested it with a ration of wheat: it rocked right up, and sat down fairly close to me. This bird is somewhat tame. It has surely been here before. I begin to think it is the same emu.



And here we learn a little about ‘mental maps’ of territory (if it is indeed that bird). It was here; it went away for months; it came back; but is only here on and off, which means it is grazing on nearby pastures.

https://imgur.com/9FddtZG

https://imgur.com/RC02spy

Let's get a better photo, and see if that 'second-year-chick feather fuzz' on the neck is apparent.

 

[Down Under]

Titbit: The Australian Army lost both wars that they waged on the Emu's.

 

[briefvisit]

Limpy Chick and her offsider aren't 'basing themselves' here at the house-clearing -- we don't hear them vocalising at night, and they aren't here morning and night.

But they come to tax the pear tree every day.

 

[briefvisit]

A lovely observation: three second-year chicks hot-footing it into the bush by the fig tree. We can tell the age of these chicks down to a fortnight or so: 15 months. I heard one cheep.

 

[AntiqueB]

How can you tell their age so precisely? It must be more than just a cheep! And until what age can you tell? And when do they stop cheeping?!?

 

[briefvisit]

‘Emu Birthday’ is the first day of spring, Antique; and although indeed you will observe clutches of chicks in spring that obviously hatched some weeks apart, a breeding-pair secures its turf in late autumn/early winter; the actual mating begins about the beginning of the second month of winter; and (as we best understand it from observations) the male is sitting on his eggs by the middle day of winter.

Then, add seven-and-a-half weeks – first days of spring – and you got Dads with newly-hatched clutches visible in your environment.



Then in a season, they begin their ‘black head’ phase.



They are black heads until about the end of the spring of their second year. Then they go silent – no more cheeping. Their plumage becomes truly adult. (The very very last baby black pin feathers disappear from their upper necks.)



Then they start vocalizing. As adults. And beating each other up.



SE

 

[briefvisit]

https://imgur.com/Mju2JZK

https://imgur.com/VdX9Yyi

 

[briefvisit]

See the toosh of the chick on the left of the top photo? See that its toosh feathers have only just begun to appear?
But the chick to its right has more toosh feathers? They are the same age -- same clutch -- but just a little different in their development.

Now check the second photo. You should always be looking for clues in the backgrounds of my photos here. It's fig time! These are the same chicks some months later -- 'fuzzball stage' Their bodies are working hard to get some serious feather pyjamas happenin' before winter. And you can see they got well-developed toosh feathers at this point.

 

[briefvisit]

https://imgur.com/xAerUTQ

And you should ask, 'Hey, Supreme Emu -- what's with the chairs?!' The answer is that it's the only way I've been able to figure out how to measure the chicks' growth. First, they can't reach the wheat on the chair. Then they can. Then they can't reach the wheat on the chair on the chair. Then they can.

Some U.S. breeders have, over the years, kept valuable weight-and-height-over-time graphs of their chicks. I have done it more ad hoc. But until about late summer of their second year, when a chick becomes full size and weight, we are fortunate, because of the chicks-hatch-on-the-first-day-of-spring thing, to have, season by season, a very good idea of their age.