We had almost completed our tour, and were sitting just inside the gate, talking to our guests. I don't even remember the subject, we were just talking about something. Wilma has been hanging out around the gate lately, pacing back and forth. Even though I have to exit the trailer to open the gate, she never bothers me, keeping her distance. As we sat and talked, Wilma comes over to inspect the trailer. Then she gets closer, until she is within easy reaching distance of all of us.
Do you remember the children's game, "Duck Duck Goose"? Everyone sits in a circle, and the one who is "it" gets up and walks around, tapping the other players saying, "duck, duck, duck". Then they pick someone, say "Goose", and run. The goose has to try and beat the other child back to the seat. Well this is what Wilma started doing. Without the vocalizations, of course.
Wilma starts walking slowly around the trailer, looking at every person in turn. When she found a child, her "goose", she'd stick her head in the trailer; her beak actually on the seat. We had to move all the people sitting on one side of the trailer. It was really hilarious, and probably something they will never forget. In actuality, she was looking for food. Everyone is supervised on the Veldt, so I know no one tosses her food. But for some reason, she associates children with goodies.
As I think about it though, she used to be on display in a different part of the zoo. It could be that children tossed food to her there, or she saw them eating crackers, ice cream, cookies, etc. Perhaps birds aren't quite the "bird brains" we think they are!
The rest of the day, when I went over the rules, I added, "please keep your food and drink put up so the ostrich doesn't get sick. Really, earlier today she had her head in the trailer!"
By the way, Wilma's mate is named Fred. Not the best picture of her, but Wilma is to the right of the tree here, peeking out.
God Bless,
Chela
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