Wild Emus at The Lilly Pilly Tree

[briefvisit]

'Do emus continue to grow a bit all the time?'



Not once they're (fully) adult -- and that is one reason why this latest project is so useful.



Let's break the subject into sections:





adults: adult rothschildis are a little under six feet when standing in the 'head lowered' position. If they put their heads up, they hardly need to go to tippy toes to be six feet.

They vary considerably in girth: some skinny; some 'beamy'



First spring/summer: they grow like magic beans. First as tooshless striped new-hatches, then as ‘black heads.’



Autumn/winter: coming into autumn, they ‘puff up,’ trying to get a head start on the cold.



And second spring/second summer/young adulthood? This is the gap we are trying to fill. There is a photo I will try to dig out.

 

[AntiqueB]

So it is fortuitous that the Cheeky Chicks are here. Are there specific observations you want to be able to make?

 

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https://imgur.com/HnQ2tG5

 

[AntiqueB]

https://imgur.com/HnQ2tG5

Family portrait! That's a beautiful picture.

 

[briefvisit]

'Are there specific observations you want to be able to make?'

It's the question you asked some time ago: what nature does the 'divestment' have?

Do the chicks just leave? Does Dad send them on their way?

Do they remain a clutch after they do 'divest'?

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SE

 

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It’s a sad picture for me, but an important picture for this enquiry.


Seven chicks came back the day Eric the Emu was killed. Two were injured – Limpy Chick quite badly.


These seven became an oddity in the project, thoroughly coddled.

Now, long story short: we got this photo months later. It is (I am fairly sure) Limpy Chick and Toosh Toosh; and two of the other seven, who had ‘gone bush’ months earlier.


It’s a really rare photo.


What intrigues me is that, although you can see that these birds are clearly young adults, they chose to sit in a cuddly little group, just as when they were chicks still.

 

[AntiqueB]

What happened to Eric the Emu? Did the chicks remain together until their second year?

 

[briefvisit]

Eric the Emu and his big and beautiful clutch of black heads was, I guess, hit by a car/run up against a fence.

Seven of the nine returned without Eric. Two injured.

This profoundly changed Planet Rothschildi -- I'll explain as we go

 

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The clutch became orphans, and sort of wandered off into the bush at various ages.

 

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Dad and the Cheeky Chicks have been here a number of times. Yesterday, I heard one chick hiss at another. Very un-sibling-like behaviour.