Wild Emus at The Lilly Pilly Tree

[briefvisit]

https://imgur.com/21SJuSH

This is two photos of the chicks walking past me. Wonderfully close for wild chicks.

 

[briefvisit]

The third thing is the wild female with the big boom. We are 80% sure that the she is the bird that has been ‘operating’ against the home team three days in the last four – it’s the same big boom!





LC and Offsider take her very seriously. Yesterday, for example, LC and O set up a sort of ‘forward defence position’ right by the fig tree.



What’s interesting though, is: why hasn’t Big Boom Female tried to take on LC and O? LC and O seem worried about the big boomer, but she hasn’t made a move (on the figs of the fig tree) -- ??

 

[Evadig]

https://imgur.com/21SJuSH

This is two of the chicks walking past me. Wonderfully close for wild chicks.

Is this a video? Just wondering 'cause nothing's moving in this one .

Will the Dad of the chicks "dump" them in eight weeks, when they turn adults? Or just let them tag along?
When is he ready to take another wife after getting rid of his clutch?

 

[briefvisit]

Two photos of two of the four chicks, as they walked past me. I will try for more.

‘Will the Dad of the chicks "dump" them in eight weeks, when they turn adults? Or just let them tag along?

When is he ready to take another wife after getting rid of his clutch?’



Introduction: we know a good deal; we are ignorant of a good deal. The best way to proceed is to re-state what we know/are fairly sure of, and then work to fill in the gaps. So:



‘when is he ready to take another wife after getting rid of his clutch?’ Males and females usually begin pairing up in late summer, and you are welcome to ask about that process (and don’t forget that the females more so choose the males).



‘Might he just let the chicks tag along?’ No. So, ‘the Great Circle of Emu Life’ is at the heart of our surmises/observations. Dads incubate; Dads parent; Dads boot the chicks so they can form a breeding-pair, and do it again.



Take a Darwinian perspective on this: a female looking for a mate needs an unencumbered prospect to give herself/both of them the best shot of producing a clutch. We know in our own species how much trouble may come from new ‘breeding pairs’ with ‘chicks’ from previous ‘clutches.’



So exactly what interests us here is that Dads parenting a clutch for a year and a half is rare-ish, and we have little data. Dad and The Cheeky Chicks are a special opportunity for us to gather data to fill gaps. It was perhaps four or five years into this project before we even understood that parenting into a second year happened!

 

[briefvisit]

'‘Will the Dad of the chicks "dump" them in eight weeks, when they turn adults?"

Bingo! We don't know. Hence our interest.

Surely, Evadig, there is some 'equation' here. Let's assume a Theoretical Dad. Is Theoretical Dad going to abandon his chicks two days or two weeks after they hatch? No. The breeding-pair has invested a lot of effort in the chicks.

Well, what if Dad dumps the chicks in early autumn of the year in which they hatch (in spring)? with the chicks fast on their feet, and fairly-well educated in Basic Life Skills? Well, that's what usually happens.

Now we ask: why would Theoretical Dad choose to stay with that clutch through winter and into the following year, and thereby forfeit the chance to mate again that winter?

There must be something in the equation! For example, a bad season might leave a clutch both weak and under-educated, which might make it a better option for Theoretical Dad to keep parenting.

And wouldn't it be fabulous if we could get data on second-year parenting in different emu sub-species? Or even individual Dads? Or even other members of the ratite family?

What we do know is that a Dad with a second-year clutch has been giving us great observations. We hope this continues. We may get the first data ever on The Equation of When A Second-Year Dad Finally Gives Chicks The Boot.

Final Note: we know that over about six weeks, normally starting very shortly, chicks stop being chicks all cuddly with their siblings, and become young adults in competition with each other -- and presumably Dad as well.

SE

 

[AntiqueB]

Does a big boom necessarily equal a strong female?

Perhaps Big Boom isn't paired yet, and so isn't really interested in challenging LC and O? Do they need to be a pair before looking for territory?

 

[briefvisit]

'Does a big boom necessarily equal a strong female?'

Good question! We naively expect so. Certainly the more powerful females vocalise more.

 

[briefvisit]

[Break from scrubbing floors]



Why don’t we know more about emus? Why are there such big gaps in our knowledge?



Here’s an anecdote that will help you understand:



We were several years into this project, and we knew plenty about chicks, before we noticed the following: although you saw clutches of chicks on the open pastures in summer and autumn, you rarely saw them in spring.



Why not?



Well, chicks are ‘waddlebottoms’ for two or three months after hatching. They have nothing like the splendid power/weight ratio that they have by their fourth and fifth months. They are slow and therefore vulnerable.



So we reckoned that Dads don’t bring their clutches out into the open in the first weeks. So they must be in ‘a nursery.’



And it took two years, but we found a nursery!

Here’s the original thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/planet-rothschildi.714603/

Here is a photo of a section of it:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/content/type/61/id/5361719/width/500/height/1000





Note: there is a dam close – so, water. Note that there’s cover overhead, but enough sun coming through to encourage the growth of spring flowers, which are vital nutrition. The gums are in rows (it’s a planation), so the clutch can move along the rows without struggling over piles of ‘litter.’ Litter is hard for chicks. The notes mention the silence of the chicks. That can only help.

 

[briefvisit]

The point of the anecdote is that there is no such unified thing as ‘observing emus.’ You observe one thing. You observe another.



And Dads parenting into a second year? We have so much to learn.



SE

 

[briefvisit]

https://imgur.com/SsLlMAu

Well, good audio! You can plainly hear Dad and this chick talking