Laura, of bluestocking fame, asked how I knew the ostriches were mean.
Kannah Creek is a milestone on US Highway 50 between Grand Junction and Montrose. It consists of a half-hearted ranch which once billed itself as a zoo. One would have to define “zoo” as “place where a few ostriches, a monkey, and some llamas are displayed in a big dirt yard.” Because Grand Junction no longer had a zoo of its own and we were craving some entertainment one summer day, my mom drove us to Kannah Creek. I was about 10 years old.
I received a postcard from someone in the mail that day and was so thrilled I took it with me in the car.
Safely at Kannah Creek, I decided to visit the monkey first. It was housed in a birdcage-shaped metal enclosure with vertical bars. Unwisely, I took the postcard with me. The monkey reached through the bars, took my postcard, and shredded it into little pieces. Stupid monkey.
On to the ostriches. 
We approached their turf, which was bordered by a fence. Immediately, they took notice of us. Perhaps they wondered if there was anything left to swipe right out of our hands and destroy. Maybe they noticed we had eyes, ripe for pecking. They were not happy so we started jogging down the path next to the fence to get away. One of the ostriches was very menacing and started running at us, flapping and kicking. I knew it couldn’t fly. I hoped it couldn’t leap over fences.
As it ran, it had to cross a very shallow ditch with a trickle of water. The ostrich stepped on the bank of the ditch, slipped in some mud, and crashed spectacularly to the ground with a giant thud. We were stunned. Animals weren’t supposed to be clumsy and have embarrassing moments. The ostrich scrambled back up on its legs and we scrambled away. Our visit to the Kannah Creek zoo lasted about five minutes. We never returned.
On trips to our grandparent’s house, I would look out the window to see the ostrich, until the ostrich were sold or disappeared or killed whilst rushing to terrorize other visitors. They are no longer there. But the pen, the creek, the house, the globe willow tree still stand.
Goodgracious, that sucker has a HUGE mouth!
My goodness!! I’m glad that you keep that creepy Kannah Creek ‘zoo’ visit nestled into the “isolated incident” category! LOL I enjoy our visits to the zoo too much. 😉
That ostrich does have a surprisingly large mouth! Thanks G! I needed that laugh today, I’m still sitting here chuckling about how clumsy he was!
Whoa! Who knew? I would have thought they were nicer! 😛
Nope, it’s true. Ostriches, like most birds, are mean and miserable. I apologize to all ye bird lovers out there, but in my experince it’s the truth. Birds are mean, not to mention scary.
(Just a note, I do enjoy looking THROUGH MY WINDOW at songbirds. That’s about it.)
Thanks for the chuckle.
They are like dinosaurs, aren’t they? And therefore in the same meanness category with crocodiles?
Snap your head right off, they will.
I was once bitten on the finger by an emu at some zoo-like tourist destination in Florida. Based on yours and my anecdotal evidence, I draw the conclusion that all large birds are mean. Grrr.