AN UNEXPECTED BRUSH WITH AN EMU LEADS TO INVESTIGATIVE ADVENTURES INTO BOOMING, DRUMMING, AND LOW-FREQUENCY SOUND. By Nathaniel J. Dominy and Laurel B. Symes A brazen emu emerged from the scrub, intentions unknown, and began to circle us, pivot- ing her head often to preserve a radius of about 15 feet. Her gaze alternated between us and our instrumentation, giving us the impression of intense curiosity, although we are trained to never anthropomorphize wild animals. Still, the sight of humans measuring gloaming light is almost certainly a novelty for emus living in Fitzgerald River National Park, Western Australia. We soon grew accustomed to her presence; after all, there was work to do and we needed to focus our attention on data collection. And then the booming started. Close Encounters of the Bird Kind Nathaniel J. Dominy prepares a multichannel spectrometer and integrating sphere for measuring the spectral properties of twilight in Fitzgerald River National Park, Western Australia. A wild female emu observes. NATHANIEL J. DOMINY IN FOCUS ANIMALIA ANTHROPOLOGY NEWS 3