Wild Emus at The Lilly Pilly Tree

[Finchbreeder]

No I can't get the link to work either.

 

[briefvisit]

https://vimeo.com/1103967909?ts=0&share=copy

Still no?

 

[briefvisit]

https://imgur.com/za55qAo

-- same clip on Imgur

 

[briefvisit]

Two emus grazing over in the old sheep yards. Supreme Emu failed to get a good clip.

We're mid-winter now. The storms are not wild, but they roll in relentlessly, at half-hour intervals, from the south west, for days at a time. The pair in question was grazing in the brief sunshine.

And: there's no doubt that emus like the grass that grows where there's sheep poo. Over at the old Oudman place, the emus jump the fence to get into the old holding yards, where the sheep-poo grass is lush.

 

[briefvisit]

Top of the driveway this morning:

a Dad with newly-hatched chicks. (No chance of photo)

Dad doing the tiny-steps walk. Counted 6-7 chicks.

And a guy in town works out at Lake Grace, several hundred kilometres north east, and says he's seen baby chicks in recent weeks.

So, good data.

 

[briefvisit]

We'll try to get some data and pictures in coming days. First good frost last night.

Dad and his chicks -- we'll call him 'Random Dad' -- have had three days of pouring rain and a frost this week. All the chicks shelter under Dad at night. We've seen this close up through binos:

Dad sits with his chest resting on the ground. This creates a little room under his bum/tail, and his plumage forms a sort of 'seal' around his body. The chicks simply run in and out of the room.

 

[briefvisit]

https://imgur.com/VeeWMXk

 

[briefvisit]

Went up to where we saw Random Dad and Chicks. No tracks visible.

We'd be delighted to have any data on their movements in the first week since hatch.

 

[briefvisit]

https://imgur.com/PWHIyA6

We saw him because he was crossing open ground -- the track. I watched for a few minutes.

Our interest here is predation vis a vis finding food for the chicks vis a vis how little they are in their first days.

Have a look at the video. This is 'open ground,' that is, not at all difficult terrain -- unless you are only six inches high.

 

[briefvisit]

https://imgur.com/sBU23YY

Now look here. The first track you see is the short one just up to the road.

The second is to the west. This takes you off my block to nearby pastures.

The third is down to the house-clearing. And on the horizon behind? That little strip of green is a paddock on the property to the north. So all you can see in that direction is my block -- like the pasture where we go to look for wild horses.

So, Random Dad won't travel in the open. That's dangerous. So he travels in the bush -- see the clip of the litter that the chicks must push through.

On four occasions and more we've seen Dads moving with their chicks through the actual blue-gum plantations, where the 'litter' is much deeper. It's very hard terrain for newly-hatched chicks.

Conclusion? Although we have excellent data on different aspects of Those First Days, the fact that Dad quietly heads bush with his newly-hatched chicks. We have observed Dads with clutches (of all ages) many times; but each time it is in a place. One place. Doing one thing.

If a Dad and his chicks are still and silent, they are, in the sorts of areas you see in the clip, practically invisible.