Wild Emus at The Lilly Pilly Tree

[briefvisit]

The arrival of Limpy Chick, and the fact of emus wandering all over the place, gives us the task of patiently figuring out who is who. At dawn, for example, Limpy Chick was here, and so were two other emus. They are the same two that were ‘with’ Limpy Chick yesterday – but were they? For several days, we’ve had unidentified emus drifting back into the trees upon seeing me.



GB’s nose is certainly out of joint. Limpy Chick just ignores her.



Let’s patiently watch for a few days, and see what new patterns emerge.



SE

 

[AntiqueB]

It's like a soap opera!

Just curious: Have you seen any tracks made by emus, and if so, can you distinguish them?

 

[briefvisit]

Whereever you have moisture and a smooth bed of sand or mud -- on a track or at a dam -- you will find excellent prints made by critters that cross that sand or mud. (I'll get you a photo today.) Even better, you can sometimes even tell more than just 'Critter X was here.' Was the critter walking or running? How long ago did it pass through?


And in various old posts, Antique, you will find information about how we 'observe' emus that are not present. They vocalise. They leave feathers in fences where they cross. They leave poops (with seeds from different seasons). They leave tracks. They leave an abandoned nest.


And in closing, here is The Standard Explanation:

the data we get range from very good to very bad; but over time -- well over 5,000 days at this point -- these can be patiently sifted through. For example, yesterday afternoon -- the photo above of the swamp gums -- I noticed that the emus are mostly grazing one nice lush section of the pasture I was crossing. It's a good datum: lots of poops here; none over there.

SE

 

[briefvisit]

I’ll put the photos up in dribs and drabs over coming days.



Went off to look for emu tracks at the dam. Here is one:

https://imgur.com/4qBI5DH

Here is my handsome foot next to a chick’s track:

https://imgur.com/a/D2rCELG

Meanwhile, GB Emu and Limpy Chick are figurin’ it out. We noted that Limpy Chick just wanders around ignoring GB, but she can’t drive GB off.



SE

 

[briefvisit]

https://imgur.com/wimN4J2

Here is Limpy Chick wondering if sultanas. (No. Abandon daddy.)

 

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There's a lovely piece of wetland on my Old Guy Walk. There's a muddy track on one side of it, and you get nice tracks.

https://imgur.com/kGGE4d6

Here are the tracks of a baby brumbie.

 

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https://imgur.com/OOx8JlJ

This is the flower of a grass tree. It's actually lots and lots of small flowers on the 'spear.'

 

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Now let’s get back to work. Who do these three emus ‘belong to’? Don’t know yet.

More interestingly, have a look at the plumage of the one closest:

https://imhttps://imgur.com/3EVU20mgur.com/3EVU20m

We’ve seen several wild emus like this in the past two years. Most confusing! They are a little undersized, but they have a sorta ‘super plumage.’ Look at the tail on this bird.



Hmmmm . . .

 

[AntiqueB]

Do the brumbies (I looked that up!) compete for food with emus? I know you said the emus eat flowers at this time of year.

Could the super plumage give any kind of evolutionary advantage?

 

[briefvisit]

'Do the brumbies (I looked that up!) compete for food with emus?'

Good question, Antique!

I think so. It all comes to a head in early autumn. Last autumn, for example, the rains were very very late. I have a memory of a kangaroo eating dried leaves. We’re talking here about critters with their ribs stickin’ out, looking for wisps of dried grass, to make it to the ‘fresh pick’ that comes with the autumn rain.



By the same token, there is a lot of bush between each critter.