These two weird looking birds are emus. I saw them near the entrance to the Tower Hill Reserve trails in Victoria, Australia.
Emus are the largest native birds in Australia, and they’re the second-largest bird in the world (by height)—the first is the ostrich. They average about 2 meters or 6 and a half feet in height. They don’t fly, but they can run at speeds of about 50 kilometers per hour/30 miles per hour. Emus are very common in Australia (as well as other parts of the world)
I’m not very fond of emus. They just seem a little creepy to me with their beady eyes and long necks, and the times I’ve tried to feed them (at an animal sanctuary), they pecked at my hands as much as the food (and their bills are strong!). You can see an emu grazing around the Tower Hill Reserve in my video below.
I took this photo and filmed this movie in December 2009, during a road trip along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria.
© Kathy Keating and An Expat’s Photoblog, 2010.
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