Wild Emus at The Lilly Pilly Tree

[briefvisit]

Is Brash Boy 'outside the envelope'? I don't think so, Antique.

We gotta observe him further. Maybe the light is part of it. We have seen a couple of equally 'sandy' emus over the years -- and 'sandy' is the phrase we've used.

But his 'ruff' is amazing.

SE

 

[Finchbreeder]

In all species of birds there are occasional colour mutations. These mutations tend to be recessive (or we would see them more often) Also they are at higher risk of predation due to being more conspicuous. So reaching adulthood is an achievement.
Looking at him I suspect Brash Boy is a dilute. If you have seen a couple over the years - the odds are that the recessive gene is travelling through the local bloodline and every now and then a pair who have it click. Logical as most birds are fully or semi territorial and so will mate with other locals (who are probably their siblings, cousins or 2nd cousins)

 

[briefvisit]

Good morning, Finchbreeder. Oh, I like this!

The numbers of 'sandy' birds we've seen fits your prediction.

There are occasional 'sorta sandy' birds.

But the last remarkably sandy emu was a chick (over at Spring Valley) perhaps 12 years ago.