Without a link to a specific video I cannot say for 100% sure that what you’re thinking of is the same thing I’m responding to, but it’s probably a courtship dance! Emus are just as extra in their own way as birds of paradise.
According to this paper, “during the courtship, both genders start
strutting and circling; ruffling out their feathers and
cocking their heads in a shy posture. The male starts
a mating dance with slow, snake-like back-and-forth
movements of his head while circling around the
female.“ Wikipedia also describes mating behavior (with citations to a paper on emu behavior that I can’t get free access to) as such:
“When courting, females stride around, pulling their neck back while puffing out their feathers and emitting low, monosyllabic calls that have been compared to drum beats. This calling can occur when males are out of sight or more than 50 metres (160 ft) away. Once the male’s attention has been gained, the female circles her prospective mate at a distance of 10 to 40 metres (30 to 130 ft). As she does this, she looks at him by turning her neck, while at the same time keeping her rump facing towards him. If the male shows interest in the parading female, he will move closer; the female continues the courtship by shuffling further away but continuing to circle him.[40][41]If a male is interested, he will stretch his neck and erect his feathers, then bend over and peck at the ground. He will circle around and sidle up to the female, swaying his body and neck from side to side, and rubbing his breast against his partner’s rump. Often the female will reject his advances with aggression, but if amenable, she signals acceptance by squatting down and raising her rump”
However, the one thing I’m not seeing in these descriptions is the jumping up and down you described. I looked up some videos, and I’m guessing this is representative of what you’re talking about:
I wasn’t sure if this counted as courtship behavior because the vertical leaps also seemed to be coupled with lunges / kicks, but I ran the video past a couple of zookeepers who have worked with emu and they all think it’s probably still a sexy dance.
Ah yes, the ubiquitous “HERE IS MY FACE PUT FOOD IN IT I DON’T CARE IF I’M SUPPOSED TO BE FIGURING IT OUT MYSELF” stage of fledgeling birds. Heralded by loud babies and frazzled-looking parents.
I think we should stop using “chicken” as a word for “coward” because have you ever met a chicken? Chickens ain’t scared of shit. Chicken is ready to throw down at all times.
It looks like the raven really wants the owl to leave and is trying to intimidate it, but the owl doesn’t care because it knows the raven is all bark and no bite. Or all squawk and no peck. Erm…
Actually, it looks more like the raven is curious about the funny bird and wants to sit next to it, and the owl doesn’t wanna be friends :[ The raven’s body language isn’t aggressive at all — it’s backing down appropriately when the owl displays aggression. Notice the way it’s careful to draw back every time it gets too close to the owl. This is an animal that’s trying to establish it isn’t a threat.
Keep in mind there’s a huge intellect disparity here — ravens exhibit novel tool use and complex communication, whereas owls aren’t even as smart as ducks. We’re sort of trained to view crows and ravens as villainous, but really they’re very playful animals.
“HI YOU’RE PRETTY WANNA BE FRIENDS??”
“HISSS”
This is so cute ‘cause I can imagine the crow being the talkative, friendly one and he’s just like “hi gosh wow you’re pretty I’ve never seen a white crow before! How’d ya get your feathers so white? Do you eat a lot of marshmallows? I eat a lot of marshmallows! This human lady feeds me marshmallows–” and on and on and the owl’s probably just like “What no go away”
This is adorable
My whole childhood just got ruined by that “owls aren’t even as smart as ducks”
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