168 : Common Ostrich

168 - Common Ostrich - Struthio camelus

I would suggest that we all forget that ostriches are birds at times. Looking at an ostrich you get a sense of what a dinosaur used to be all about. They are of course the world's largest bird. I am 6 foot 2 inches tall if I pull my shoulders back yet I would still be dwarfed by an Ostrich which can get up to 7 1/2 feet tall ! That's a bird ! We have all heard the stories about Ostriches being able to kick a man to death and so on. There is no doubting their ability to defend a nest or a chick if tested.

We asked Barrakka, our driver, to stop the van to spend a moment with this big male and to tell us some stuff about ostriches. I think we were on our last afternoon's game drive and I realised we had not really stopped to pay any attention to these big birds. Granted I do not think we had had a bird that close to the vehicle at that point. I think I am as guilty as the next bird watcher for not even registering the moment when this became a proper life tick for me. Such is their association with Whipsanade safari park or wildlife films. I grew up with the Walt Disney film with drunk ostriches after eating fermented fruit. We seem to take the fun out of them. We grow up with these birds as part of our childhoods but we don't know them in the same way as we might know a robin or blackbird as a wild creature.

Lions will prey on these creatures which consequently can get up to speeds of 60 kph in a straight pursuit. Thats almost 40 miles an hour in old money. The female ostriches pool the eggs in a communal nest with up to 25 eggs and then multiple nests will be gathered in a loose flock. The females incubate the eggs in the long grass at night - the brown plumage serving as camouflage. The males take their turn at night and the black plumage serves a dual purpose. It offers night time camouflage and it keeps the eggs warm as black retains the heat in the feathers which has been gathered during the day - genuis. As well as the bigger cats vultures and hyenas will predate on the eggs in the nest.

So thats my few facts on Ostriches. I have decided not to take them for granted anymore. They do not belong in zoos, or indeed on the Tesco's meat counter but we seem to have turned them into livestock. They are a plains grazing, sprinting, wild creature of the savannah.

They really do form part of the scenery and you have to make the effort to really look.

These ostriches were out on the edge of the salt-pan and Lake at Manyara. Our first driver Gregory had no idea why they would be on the edge of the water like this.

Ostriches punctuating the savannah inside the Ngorogoro. You can see the crater wall rising some 4-600 m over the crater depression. You can see the scale from the small herd of Wildebeest in the background.

Look again is all I say. Its a bird ! Huge  - I am glad I was in the van.

I leave you with a view of Olakira camp close to the Mara river in the Northern Serengetti under a huge African sky. On longer vistas there would often be a solitary ostrich in sight. Magnificent.

Ostrich, Struthio camelus
July 19 2012
Tanzania