MVTimes Online - The Martha's Vineyard Times: Island News Now

West Tisbury's newest resident is a fuzzy, striped, flightless bird. Rufus the emu hatched on March 1.

The emu now graces the Australian seal, but once it was considered a pest fit for extermination.

While it proved extremely chancy last August to photograph the red-footed falcon apparently blown across the Atlantic Ocean to Katama totally by accident, my recent visit to West Tisbury was borne of a far greater certainty of success. A friend had advised me of a West Tisbury couple who had recently incubated and hatched a healthy and thriving Emu chick. Until I met the pair, Neil Flynn and Jacquie Balaschak, my knowledge of the emu was limited to my work on two daily crossword puzzles. At least once a week, both puzzles will offer one of two clues for the three-letter Australian bird — either “flightless bird” or “cousin of the ostrich.” A recent hour with Jacquie Balaschak and the week-old chick, Rufus, changed all that.

The future Rufus arrived at the couple’s West Tisbury home more than eight weeks ago as one of two extremely large emu eggs, a Christmas present from Neil’s sister, Laurie. Both were immediately deposited in a waiting incubator. Only Rufus’s egg proved fertile, however, and he made his successful entrance into the outside world on March 1.

The entire process proved not totally free of hectic days and nights and several stressful moments. According to Jacquie, “The incubating eggs required complete turning by hand three times daily; and use of a stand-by generator was required several times during power failures on stormy nights. In addition, friends continually called to be updated on the status of the incubation. Finally, little Rufus’s beak pierced the shell on March 1, and with the help and expertise of Aunt Laurie, a baby emu became a native Islander.”

Jacquie has done exhaustive research on the emu and was able to provide answers to all of my questions. It is one of a family of flightless birds called ratites. It is the largest (up to five to six feet in height and 150 pounds in weight) bird native to Australia. The emu is the second-largest bird that survives today worldwide; the ostrich is the largest. It can run up to 30 miles per hour, some say as fast as 50. And because it moves across large areas of Australia, the emu has learned how to swim. It is known as an opportunistic nomad, feeding on grains, flowers, fruit, soft shoots, insects, grubs, and whatever else is available. To this, Jacquie adds special ratite feed, available commercially on the Island. Emus are largely solitary creatures, and seem to have no need for company.

Another interesting facet of the emu’s history emerged for me from material provided by my hostess. According to the book “The Wonderful World of Emus,” in 1932 the Australian government began a campaign to exterminate “pesky” emus in Australia by mass destruction with machine guns. Somehow, the emus survived and now have a steady population in the wild. Moreover, several years after the emu wars, the Australian government declared the emu the national bird. It currently appears on the Australian seal along with the kangaroo.

Neil and Jacquie seem extremely pleased with Rufus’s progress thus far. Much of the bird’s rearing is left to Jacquie, as most of Neil’s time must of necessity be devoted to his dual careers as a successful Vineyard builder and a talented beekeeper — he maintains 80 hives for his Katama Apiary. At Rufus’s present age of one week, the baby bird is about 12 inches tall, with mottled gray-and-white horizontally striped down. He is very alert and loves the attention of people. The couple eagerly anticipate his expected rapid growth of about one foot a month. And I look forward to returning in about five months to see him as a full-grown young adult.

Although emus have been raised for their meat as well as their natural oil, it would seem to this observer that the new West Tisbury emu owners look forward exclusively to Rufus’s companionship as their star pet. The breed is known for its sociability and playfulness. It joins a family that presently includes two Siamese cats, a Jack Russell terrier, and six ducks.