Wild Emus at The Lilly Pilly Tree

[Finchbreeder]

UE definately has a very heavily feathered neck.
I notice that some of the birds also seem to have more white on the neck up by the head than others.
Quite a few birds in the wild - and in avairies - suffer from the occasional "milkmans child"
With my mothers show budgies, they are bred in 2 birds to a cage, breeding boxes. But a couple of years ago a Danish pied hens 1st child turned up surprisingly early. When it coloured up as a Golden face, it was obvious that she had a fling with the "Milkman" at her pre wedding hens do.

 

[Finchbreeder]

"Milko" as he got named is now in the breeding box himself.

I also wish I had as many Red Tailed Blacks round here as you have White Tailed Blacks down there.
We - mum and I - who live about 1-2kms apart as the Cockatoo flies - have regular visits to our backyards - but only get 3/10 at a time. It is only on evening when they head out to the river to roost that you will see the full flock if you are lucky, and that is only about 24.

 

[briefvisit]

'I notice that some of the birds also seem to have more white on the neck up by the head than others.'

Do you mean their 'ruffs'?

 

[briefvisit]

'I also wish I had as many Red Tailed Blacks'

Red-tails always fewer.

[Off to town]

 

[briefvisit]

We have never discussed this before:

The Breeding Season.



Let’s say that tomorrow marks the beginning of breeding on Planet Rothschildi. That is, a female may lay eggs for about ten days after a mating. So if the males got a nest full of Big Green Eggs by mid-winter’s day, the starting gun fires tomorrow.



How many breeding-pairs in the southern half of Western Australia? We don’t know.



How many pairs in the National Park here? We don’t know.



Have we any data at all on density?

Yes. The vocalisations of the females are – on a clear still winter night – audible for at least a half a mile. Sometimes, in his rambles, Supreme Emu here’s males and females ‘spaced out’ over distances. For example, walking the two miles down to the river bridge at first first light.

It is possible to make sketchy guesses to the effect that there is a mosaic of pairs, maybe a half a mile apart -- oh wow! This is a wild guess!



And here? Well, Limpy Chick and Offsider may have mated early. (Limpy chick is just a fortnight short of hatch now!)



And two more pairs are under observation, but they are not obviously trying to seize control of the house-clearing. The best we can do is wait to see if Bush and U.E.’s consort stop turning up for wheat in a fortnight, which would fit the past pattern: they are incubating.



What we do know is that the main event of emu life is about to begin. Breeding-pairs across huge distances have spent months battling others to secure areas – like this house-clearing – in order to breed.

 

[Finchbreeder]

Look at the bright side - Emus have to secure a paddock.
Red and White Tailed Blacks have to secure a correct size hollow log. Too many of which have been cut down - fortunately some Mensheds are making suitable boxes and fastening them to suitable trees to replace what has been taken.

The white on the neck seems to be up round chin height, not sure if it is feather or skin, but looks more like feather.

 

[briefvisit]

'The white on the neck seems to be up round chin height, not sure if it is feather or skin, but looks more like feather.'

Yep: 'ruff' -- like the one Shakespeare wears in the images you see of him. It comes and goes. (Offsider's disappeared this autumn.)

 

[briefvisit]

Very quiet here

Great observations. Both breeding pairs vocalising before dawn, and another male to the north east.

 

[briefvisit]

Patient observations remain underway. Just gonna lay low to see if readers return.



We are – 7/7/2025 – into the actual egg-laying period.



Bush and Haystack: attend each morning, and most afternoons. We are sharply focused on whether, about a week from now, Haystack turns up on her own. That would be a great data, although we’ll have trouble identifying her without Bush.



Undersized Emu and her consort: irregular attendance; but U.E. is readily identifiable. So if she turns up in a week or so, we just need to see if she has a male in tow.



Meanwhile, it’s mid-winter here: raining and windy. On fine mornings, Supreme Emu has been out at first first light, to watch for the breeding-pairs to emerge, in the hope of seeing matings.



There is a sort of vocalization that we associate with the actual matings (which almost always, in our experience, occur at dawn), and we think we heard it a couple of mornings ago. But this is wispy data. Our best bet is to focus on the sudden non-appearance of the males.

 

[Finchbreeder]

Lots of birds have a breeding call - so this would seem to be logical.
Tis also the norm for most birds to breed when the grasses begin to seed, so that the chicks will have the best chance to get off to a good start. So that your wild Emus and our caged birds all get the make babies message round the same time is also a form of perfect logic.