Wild Emus at The Lilly Pilly Tree

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'Undersized Emu' here this morning. It clearly roosted hard by, as I saw it at first first light (having coffee in the garden).

 

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Today, a handful of sultanas got me a really good look at Undersized Emu. At just inches over arm's length away it happily scoffed up the sultanas.

Healthy bird. Glossy plumage. Nice classic blue on its neck.

And just so tame??!!

 

[AntiqueB]

Who else has been feeding wheat and sultanas???

 

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'Who else has been feeding wheat and sultanas???'

No one except occasional visitors. A handful of wheat gets them close to the home-team birds

 

[AntiqueB]

Are some emus naturally tamer than others?

 

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https://imgur.com/f1jyZ10

 

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When you are taming a clutch, it is often the case – once you begin to be able to distinguish the chicks of the clutch – that one sort of lags at the back while one is more forward. So, I think yes.



But they very clearly differ in aggressiveness. Greedy Emu kept Felicity emu, her sister, on the outer here at the house-clearing for three years.



They differ in the foods they like. They differ in how they drink at the bird bath. They differ in how readily they'll plonk down to eat.

 

[briefvisit]

Autumn, 2025. Weeks short of 18 years of observations. Pretty dry -- you can see it in the background of the clip of the magpies.

Undersized Emu remains a mystery: remarkably tame.

And it has Offsider's measure. Offsider is an aggressive consort, always first to confront intruders.

But Undersized Emu doesn't run away as such. It runs 'sideways.' It executes long outflanking manoeuvres against Offsider, often as much as 100 or 150 yards, in a great circle, back to the wheat -- Undersized Emu doesn't get fed as such, but it is doing okay zipping in and out between attacks.

 

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And: Limpy Chick and Offsider Emu are now entering the correct period for breeding. If they persist in commanding the house-clearing in coming months, there is some chance we'll get to observe an incubation.

(I was very ill during one of the two. So, for one we have a splendid -- indeed a unique -- record. For the other, no recorded observations.)

 

[AntiqueB]

I hope they nest and raise chicks there!