Wild Emus at The Lilly Pilly Tree

[briefvisit]

But first a little work:

https://imgur.com/lDfz2qP

It's an old night-time poop -- it's a roost.

Here is how far in to the bush it was:

https://imgur.com/QHtPTfD

Supreme Emu was coming through on the track that you can just see passing from left to right.

 

[briefvisit]

Now this --

https://imgur.com/SidhVC0

-- is a splendid roost poop!

And you get down on your knees:

https://imgur.com/GRvIKQc

You figure out which way the bird was facing, and almost certainly you'll find a chest feather on the ground. Which we did.

 

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https://imgur.com/PbpK9lJ

 

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Chicks had a little dance this morning. Tiny bit.

And we're sure they are now too big to fit under Dad at night.

 

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Limpy Chick is here with his clutch.

Bush and Haystack are here.

And Undersized Emu and her consort are here.

And they are all moving about the house-clearing in The Emu Ballet of Power

 

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https://imgur.com/ms4BDTQ

 

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At least 16 emus here at one point this morning. The chicks really are brown now, and bigger.



Three Observations: we watched the chicks from two inches away, but Limpy Chick keeps scoffing up the sultanas: the chicks love the sultanas, but when I hold some out on my hand, Limpy Chick scoffs them up.



Next: Limpy Chick is teaching the chicks to eat stones. The chicks are little, so little stones – and this emu reality took us some time to figure out. But a Dad and his chicks sit down, and scoff up tiny stones. Later, bigger stones. You will find stones the size of marbles in adult wild-emu poop.



Last: Supreme Emu examined the early plum tree yesterday. The about-to-blooms at the top on the north are within hours of opening: two days? Three?



Then Supreme Emu will be able to get out and about.



The chicks were trailing across the backyard. It was the first time we’ve seen them actively foraging. You could see them pecking at the ground, at grass, and we presume, tiny flowers.

 

[briefvisit]

We are almost a fortnight past the end of the annual emu mating-season. And we have, for some months, been observing Bush and Haystack, and Undersized Emu and her consort (who over months has never gotten close enough to even get a name).



So do we need a new term for these pairs of emus? Are these two ‘breeding-pairs’ already oriented to next winter?

 

[Finnie]

We've seen a clip of a male -- presumably young -- who just wanders away from his eggs 'for a second,' and they get et by a monster (Varanus).

This caused me to ponder a couple of things.

If doing a second clutch were a possible thing, then would the male have to go off and track down his mate from wherever she may have disappeared to? It seems that since she just ups and offs after the eggs are laid, she really has no concern about whether the chicks hatch or not. So it seems to me she would be disinclined to provide the broody male with an extra set of eggs.

The other thought I had was, if female emus did want to lay a second clutch, they would have to find a different male, since their mate would already be sitting on eggs and not available. Maybe that’s where she disappears to. Her other husband in a different location who has no clue she’s living a double life.

Seriously though, it seems more likely that emus are programmed to just lay a single clutch. Kind of like sea turtles.