Another Bucket List Item ~ Part 4 ~ The Ostriches

 Finally, the reason for the stop at The World Famous Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch - the ostriches.

The Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch opened in 1999 with only ostriches as the only animal on display. They have expanded over the years and now have about a dozen different critters who entertain visitors and are happy to be fed.

• flightless bird originated in Africa
• males called roosters can reach 9' tall & weigh up to 375 pounds
• hens lay eggs between January and July in AZ
• can live to be 50-70 years old
• their meat is red and tastes similar to beef

This was one of three options for feeding green pellets to the birds - pouring some green pellets in the tube on our side of the wire fence.

The tube dropped the food into a trough for the birds.

Another feeding option was the feeding pans on the observation deck.

The third option was to feed them from our hands. No teeth, but they do peck! So no to hand feeding.

Their eyes are bigger than their brains. Their eyes have long black eyelashes.

I believe we were seeing and feeding males. The roosters are black with white feathers in their wings and tails. (Since it is laying season for the females, and there was a fenced area of other ostrich, I believe these were the males.) The hens are grayish brown.

They have no teeth so eat rocks to grind their food.

their ears; they have acute hearing

Ostrich are the largest living bird. Almost half of their height is neck.

Ostrich are the only two toed bird in the world. They use their strong legs for defense; they can kill a lion with their kicks. A frightened ostrich can run 45 miles an hour.

Ostriches are now raised for their meat and hide, which provides a soft, fine-grained leather. I do not know what the Cogburn Ostrich Ranch does with all their birds. I guess I could have/should have asked. I do know they sell ostrich jerky, but do not sell fresh ostrich meat.

According to their website: Ostrich egg shell is the largest and thickest shell in the world and because an ostrich is a descendent of the dinosaur, this truly is a modern day dinosaur egg. The ostrich hen applies a coating on the egg right as it is laid which gives it a “glossy or “finished” appearance and protects it from bacteria. All ostrich egg shells from Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch are “homegrown” and are laid by ostrich hens here at the ranch. These beautiful ivory colored shells make an elegant decoration just by itself or can be used for a unique medium for crafts.

The eggs weigh about 4 pounds and take about 6 weeks to hatch.

The price on the hand painted eggs was $99.

Ostrich plumes adorned the helmets of medieval European knights, and in the 19th century such plumes were sold for women’s finery. This demand led to the establishment of ostrich farms in South Africa, the southern United States, Australia, and elsewhere, but the trade collapsed after World War I. ~ Britannica

The oldest fossil relatives of ostriches belong to the species Calciavis grandei, which were excavated from the Green River Formation in Wyoming and date to the Eocene Epoch, some 56 million to 34 million years ago. ~ Britannica

The ostrich is typical of a group of flightless birds called ratites and are related to  kiwis, emus, cassowaries, and rheas. 

If you have family visiting, especially younger children, I feel this would be a great place to visit. The price is $12 for ages 6 and older ($14 if you want to feed the cownose stingrays). I know we spent at least an hour there and could have spent more but needed to head to Tucson. 

Another Bucket List Item ~ Part 3

 Small animals, especially for the kiddos...

Our second food cup contained tokens for food for the bunnies (and chickens and ducks). We gave our tokens to a family with small children.

all colors

this one posed for me

this one looks so soft and furry

I did not see an entrance for the rabbit pen. I think the only touching of the rabbits was if you leaned over the short wall and could reach them.

There was a piece of asparagus in the second food cup to feed the tortoises.

they all had names

I'm not certain if this group of tortoises in the corner constitutes a creep, but that is the term for a group of tortoises. (A group of turtles is called a bale.)

someone doesn't know how to spell

To feed the tortoises we were to place the piece of asparagus in the clothespin (with wings) and hold it slightly to the left of the tortoise's head. When they saw the food, they would quickly snatch it with their sharp beak. They do not have teeth.

The tortoise I tried to feed must not have been hungry as it dropped the food in the dirt. I don't think it was recovered. Tortoises are land creatures and herbivores. Turtles are omnivores.

Because they barely moved, it was easy to take photos of their interesting features. They do not have ears but have a hole on the sides of their heads.

All tortoises are in fact turtles—that is, they belong to the order Testudines or Chelonia, reptiles having bodies encased in a bony shell—but not all turtles are tortoises. Unlike most sea turtles, which take to land only when they are laying eggs, tortoises don’t have much to do with water other than drinking it and occasionally bathing in it. ~ Britannica

Their shell develops from their ribs and is called a carapace. The carapace can help indicate the age of the tortoise by the number of concentric rings, much like the cross-section of a tree.

back feet

One way to further distinguish tortoises from other turtles is to look for certain anatomical features. The testudinids (their family is Testudinidae) are easily recognized because all share a unique hind-limb anatomy made up of elephantine (or columnar) hind limbs and hind feet. ~ Britannica

front feet

Their forelimbs are not flipperlike, and their hind feet are not webbed. Each digit in their forefeet and hind feet contains two or fewer phalanges. Finally, if you can’t see their legs, try feeding them meat. Tortoises are generally vegetarians, while other turtles are omnivorous. ~ Britannica

These teens entered the Tortoise pen to do their feeding. I hope they did not loose a finger in the process! One of the tortoise was parked by the gate making it very hard for us to enter, but these two were able to squeeze through.

There is also a water tank of cownose stingrays for touching and feeding. I chose photography instead.

Ostriches tomorrow!

Another Bucket List Item ~ Part 2

 The birds.

Parakeet Perch

Our cup of food contained a stick with bird seed glued on the end. We were to put the stick through the wire wall and the parakeets would fly to the perch to nibble on the stick of bird seed.

when they were done eating they turned their back to me

another colored parakeet

Pekin Ducks

we chose not to feed them

There was also a pen of chickens where young and old could enter and interact with them. We did not visit that pen either, as we were running out of time.

Our second food cup contained a small plastic covered container of nectar for the Rainbow Lorikeets.

I was told to leave the cover on the container as the birds would take it off. I was so busy getting my camera ready to take a photo, I missed them removing the lid.

OK. Now I'm ready!

two birds were on my left hand drinking away

the one on my right shoulder kept squawking in my ear

the one on my left arm just stayed put

there was no shoving or changing positions for these two

they just stayed put and emptied the cup

it was a neat bird experience, right up there with the macaws 

in Costa Rica

sign in the gift shop

I couldn't resist!

It's all fun until someone gets pooped on

(Then it's just plain funny!)