Wild Emus at The Lilly Pilly Tree

[AntiqueB]

Those fairy wrens are certainly splendid!

Why would Limpy Chick not care about an interloper? Does she consider it more to be GB's territory, maybe?

And where IS GB?

 

[briefvisit]

Comfortable Consort down on his hocks, enjoying his wheat.

https://imgur.com/JR4BwTO

 

[briefvisit]

Dawn this morning, and the interloper has snuck up (with me sitting quietly quite close) to get a bit of Limpy Chick’s breakfast wheat. It’s always a giggle how fast the wild emus figure out the Yumminess of wheat. (It’s good protein for them.):

https://imgur.com/wrA1sST

 

[briefvisit]

'Those fairy wrens are certainly splendid!'

Yes, they are!



'Why would Limpy Chick not care about an interloper? Does she consider it more to be GB's territory, maybe?'



Good question! Limpy Chick has the drop on GB because GB is a blow-in – GB didn’t grow up here.



We’ve noticed a sort of ‘two separate worlds’ thing going on. GB seems more focused on The Big Picture of being the female in a breeding-pair, and defending her turf.

But LC has no consort, and seems to just be enjoying the spring sunshine.

The two of them don’t seem to avoid each other. The clashes come -- very low key so far -- when they bump into one another over the handful of wheat. Otherwise . . . separate worlds.



And where IS GB?

Well, spring is a time of travelling and schmoozing with other emus. (When the autumn rain brings ‘fresh pick’ is the other time.)



But a better answer is: we don’t know!



You see, the very nature of this long project has been to observe what we can observe. This is why we fuss about ‘soundscapes’ and feathers in fences: we have too little data.



We are observing a vast world through a pinhole in the wall.



So, what we know is that a young female we call ‘GB’ – who has been here for about 8-9 months now – has a male that seems to be her consort, that she is trying hard to defend what she sees as her territory, and that, as with all emus, she comes and goes.



SE

 

[briefvisit]

Here is an old clip. Ring-Necked Parrot:

https://imgur.com/3OCEQ93

 

[briefvisit]

Yesterday’s answer about Where Is GB? Seemed flippant. So:



it seems that emus tend to spend weeks or months in an ‘orbit’ comprised of some number of pastures/food and water sources in some area.



Just beyond the dam to the east here, for example, is a ‘pasture’ hardly the size of a tennis court; but we know that emus are grazing there because there are fresh poops. It’s a pretty good bet that that Dad with his clutch of four had a snack there sometime; drank at the dam; then wandered over to the house-clearing.



It is not uncommon for us to meet one of the home-team emus while out walking. For example, we see them crossing from this block to the next block along the open ground under the power lines. That’s about a mile away.



On one most memorable afternoon around 2010, we counted over fifty wild emus that passed through the house-clearing in a single afternoon. (It was wonderful! About thirty were chicks.) That is, while observing, we saw that many wild emus arrived; had a little graze; and moved on.



So, where is GB? Our wild guess is that she covers two or three miles a day, grazing on a half a dozen different pastures. She usually drops in here for some wheat. But if their grazing takes her and Consort too far away, they just roost where they are at dusk.



And the ‘orbit’ thing? Wild emus have wonderful ‘mental maps’ of food and water sources. The plums and figs in the house-clearing here are a good example. And the Dad with chicks who was here? His chicks saw the apricot tree. It’s now on their ‘map.’



Our guess, then, is that some number of times each year, emus shift from one area to another, almost certainly to get to food and water sources that they have learned over their lives. (The mustangs clearly do it.)



Then, in the new ‘orbit,’ they do there what we have just described: each day, they shift around a number of pastures and water sources.



Now, finally, think of the desert woodwardi emus. We guess that they do the same thing – but what are the distances? Surely much larger.



PS Years ago, way over by the National Park, we found a spot in a clump of trees where emus – a number? – were quite clearly roosting. (There are photos, but it was years ago.) The (fresh) poops in this area were remarkably different in colour, which showed that the birds doing the pooping had been grazing on different pastures.



Moreover, the roost was also in a remarkable spot, just where the National Park met a blue-gum plantation with pastures and water. It was clear that some number of wild emus were coming and going from this roost.



SE

 

[AntiqueB]

When you say GB and Consort are driving off interlopers, does that mean they are defending a potential nesting site? And how can they keep their territory (your place) if they are moving around?

It seems like it might be:
Spring -- find a potential nesting area or areas; wander
Summer -- nest and defend; stay put
Fall/winter -- forage where possible; wander

Is this mainly what your observations have shown, or do I have it all wrong?

 

[Evadig]

But if their grazing takes her and Consort too far away, they just roost where they are at dusk.

So do emus roost at night? That would be quite the sight I think. I cannot imagine an emu sitting in a tree!

 

[briefvisit]

Hi, Antique. Good questions!



‘When you say GB and Consort are driving off interlopers, does that mean they are defending a potential nesting site?’



In the normal scheme of things, that’s exactly what happens. What is odd is that it is happening now, instead of next autumn.



Recall what I noted about GB being in her first season as an adult, and that she is ‘practising.’ So it seems that she is doing what comes naturally, except she is doing it at the wrong time!



When an established breeding-pair gets to the actual procreation stage, yes, they go hard to secure a small area. They hardly leave that area. (We have two great – and almost unique – observations of this process.)



‘And how can they keep their territory (your place) if they are moving around?’

Emus seem to expend inordinate amounts of energy squabbling. Absurd amounts!



So, if a pair like GB and Consort are ‘in orbit’ around the house-clearing and on nearby (lesser) pastures, certainly if they are not here, others can sneak in and forage. When they come back, maybe some local birds already know who is boss, and they skedaddle; and any who don’t know who is boss find out fast.



Maybe the best way of understanding this is to note why we use the term ‘bird brain.’ Emus have great memories, but their ‘algorithm of behaviour’ seems to be marvelously simple: if hungry, eat grass. If other emus are present, attack if you dare, run away if you can’t.



That is, their ‘algorithm’ is not refined. They seem to endlessly repeat the process of establishing a pecking order.

 

[briefvisit]

'It seems like it might be:

Spring -- find a potential nesting area or areas; wander

Summer -- nest and defend; stay put

Fall/winter -- forage where possible; wander'



Your guess is pretty good! It seems to go like this:

Late summer/autumn: form pairs.

Late summer autumn: go a-wandering.


These two things seem to overlap – and it is not always the case that a consort ‘sticks.’ We have on a dozen occasions ‘met’ a consort who hung around for a while; didn’t make the cut; and disappeared back into the bush.

And two birds forming a pair is in the context of many emus drifting about, socializing.



Autumn: finish wandering; choose a likely area for breeding; begin driving off all comers.

Late autumn/early winter: spend less and less time away from the chosen site.

A month into winter: have cute little trysts to choose an actual nest site. (This is hilarious in a range of ways.) Then begin breeding, with the female laying eggs into the nest over a week or ten days.

Mid-winter: one morning, the male doesn’t turn up for Yummy Wheat at dawn. He is incubating: seven-and-a-half weeks.