Wild Emus at The Lilly Pilly Tree

[briefvisit]

https://imgur.com/Brw7jtU

These are not emus

 

[briefvisit]

https://imgur.com/xTykZ5a

 

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[BYC and everything going wonky]

 

[AntiqueB]

Those are some amazing photos and videos! I can't imagine a wild emu so close. Are you ever fearful?

I could watch the fairy wrens all day.

 

[briefvisit]

'Are you ever fearful?'

Goodness, no. To me, they’re just overgrown chickens.



No, seriously: ostriches are truly ornery. Cassowaries are outright dangerous.



But the tame-wild emus? One: they know I’m not an emu. They see me just as wheat or a handful of sultanas. And I invested enormous amounts of time taming them.



Two: we only observe. Eric the Emu, for example? Would you have backed him into a corner, and tried to stuff him in a sack? Good luck with that! The stories you hear about aggressive emus are 99.999999999999999999999% about ‘safari park’ emus or neurotic emus in enclosed areas.



The emus here are never ‘constrained.’ If startled, they just run.



And Limpy Chick? You hold a plate of wheat at your chest, Antique, and hold your arm out. Still. Let her ‘come in over’ your arm. Then you get a little pat of her chest feathers while she gobbles the food.



Felicity was so tame I could pull the ticks on her neck.

 

[briefvisit]

Wild horse -- 'brumbies' -- stayed all night. LC and Offsider don't quite know what to do. They want to foomph and carry on -- but horses be so big!!

 

[AntiqueB]

I take it brumbies rarely come to your yard!

 

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Not so rarely, but the emus usually just slink off. I've never seen them inclined to 'operate against' the horses.

 

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https://imgur.com/fuSX7hE

 

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'I take it brumbies rarely come to your yard!'

They come and go in a pattern. If they are 'around,' we may see them once a week or so -- especially if I go walking to the north.

Then they head off to new territory, and we may not see them for months.

They were here again today. I could see the bum and the tail of the baby sticking out behind its Mum -- the mares stand at the back of the mob, and the babies stand behind their Mums, so you sometimes don't get to see them clearly.