Wild Emus at The Lilly Pilly Tree

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Undersized Emu roosted on the north side. Fewer vocalisations. We are struggling to make sense of this.



Supreme Emu was out observing/auditing at first light. Watched the north-west quadrant. Then went for a little walk when L.C. and Offsider hadn’t turned up by twenty minutes after U.E. had.



So, here’s an aisle in the gums, north-west quadrant:

https://imgur.com/X1Tmedq

You mosey 60 yards down this, and you’re in a section of actual bush (rather than blue gums). I could hear a female emu somewhere further to the north . . . and L.C. and Offsider were in the clearing when I moseyed back.



So we have no idea what is going on!

For example, if the breeding-pair is roosting just 200 yards away -- which might account for them 'leaving early' at dusk, and 'arriving late' at dawn -- then the amount of bush we'd need to monitor in order to find one quiet still emu sitting on eggs becomes much much larger, dozens and dozens and dozens of acres.

 

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https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1082023248

Is this visible?

It's obviously a video of L.C. and Offsider mating -- why?

Lots to discuss here

 

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https://vimeo.com/1082379827/68e69019a5?ts=0&share=copy

Practising with Vimeo.

Limpy Chick and Offsider roosted down behind the fig tree.

Few vocalisations last night -- ?

 

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Out the window (south side), we saw Undersized Emu arrive with a bird in tow – a male? Photos coming, but that pair is here now, standing its ground over by the tractor shed.

 

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https://vimeo.com/1082456757/045882e3a6?share=copy

Five minutes ago. We must get out and observe. That's the 'new' bird being chased from right to left by Offsider.

 

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Still practising with Vimeo. (Img seems not to work for me any more)

So, you mosey to the north down the 'aisle' -- the photo of the aisle is above.
This brings you to this block of degraded wild bush. It's not gums. It's full of trash timber.

And emus wouldn't roost in it because it's rather open. The 'gum aisles' are cosier.

https://vimeo.com/1082457976/8c67310103?ts=0&share=copy

 

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https://vimeo.com/1082459177/345c1aea14?ts=0&share=copy

The 'new' bird is the one just left of the post, about to be rousted by Offsider.

 

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The emu following Undersized Emu yesterday was here this morning. It got a few grains of wheat.



Now, all emus love wheat. It’s great ‘solid’ protein. But the newcomers really love it. We'll keep an eye on our methodology here. We don’t want dependent critters: that changes their behaviour. But just a few tablespoons of wheat each allows us to get close, to observe.

We’ll call this new bird ‘Sandy’ for the second. We’ll assume it’s male, as it’s clearly in company with U.E.



And three of the Cheeky Chicks were here at dawn.



SE

 

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https://vimeo.com/1083077751/c8876702e7?ts=0&share=copy

Still struggling with uploads.

'Sandy' is a male.



Undersized Emu seemed a little more aggressive this morning. Let’s watch this.



She and Sandy turned up a little after Limpy Chick and Offsider. So, our first wild guess is that, indeed, we now have an established breeding-pair and a prospective breeding-pair.

 

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https://vimeo.com/1083079268/48cdbef278?ts=0&share=copy

Here he is. We'll get a better shot as he gets tamer