Adelaide residents were surprised to find a wild emu wandering calmly around the city on Wednesday.

Bemused drivers stopped their cars to get a closer look at the flightless bird which was walking down the middle of the road.

Eventually, a local man - who seemed to know what he was doing - used a broom to shepherd the emu away from the road.

Emus are Australia's largest native bird and the second-largest living bird by height in the world.