Emu
Dhilba Guuranda (Innes) National Park, SA, March 2021.
These birds are shaggy. The eyes are supposed to be yellow, grey or red. I am guessing they call this colour red? The female, like the Southern Cassowary, is slightly larger than the male.
Dhilba Guuranda (Innes) National Park, SA, March 2021.
Emus are darker in the West than those in the East. As this bird was in South Australia I am guessing it is somewhere in the middle :) My wife was thrilled to spot this one through the bushes and then even more so when it walked out nearer to us. She had never seen one before in the wild.
Dhilba Guuranda (Innes) National Park, SA, March 2021.
Height is from 1.5 to 1.9 metres. They are highly nomadic especially in droughts. They run very swiftly and I remember seeing them often run run alongside the car as we drove down dirt roads on the Yorke Peninsula.
Dhilba Guuranda (Innes) National Park, SA, March 2021.
They are omnivores but eat mainly fruit, seeds and insects. When needed they also eat flowers, leaves, herbs and grass.
Dhilba Guuranda (Innes) National Park, SA, March 2021.
Breeding is from April to October and they lay from 7-11 eggs in a scrape in the ground made by the male. It is loosely lined with plant litter.