That was unexpected…

We drove to Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in 2018. It’s essentially a drive through zoo, but the animals are roaming around freely. You drive around the park, and you can buy food to feed the animals so they come to your car.

Brian and I sat in the front seats, and we had five of our kids with us. The windows were down, and the sunroof was open.

As planned, several animals approached our car. We saw zebras, a variety of antelope, giraffes, and more. It was really fun. We all got to feed the giraffes, who stuck their heads right inside our open sunroof.

Toward the end of the day, we saw an ostrich. Brian stopped because it was approaching my side of the car. It came closer and closer, and Brian decided to roll down my passenger side window so we could get a better look.

The ostrich was uncomfortably close.

I leaned away from the window, cautiously watching the bird.

Out of nowhere, the ostrich reached in my window and pecked my leg with his huge beak…TWICE! Everyone started screaming. Out of my peripheral vision, I could see everyone else moving to Brian’s side of the car. Their faces looked as shocked as I felt.

“CLOSE MY WINDOW! CLOSE MY WINDOW!”

I kept yelling in utter panic. I didn’t dare put my hand closer to the ostrich, and I desperately didn’t want to be pecked again. Twice was plenty.

Brian was closing the window, and I swear it was the slowest closing ever. Finally, the window was rolled up and the ostrich started pecking the window. HARD.

Brian put the car in drive and we left, still screaming. It was crazy. And scary. And surprising.

Of all the animals we saw that day, ostriches were not the ones I thought would be aggressive. But I kind of liked being surprised. I like discovering new things, especially when they challenge previous beliefs.

Life can be fun when we keep an open mind. But in the future, I don’t think I’ll roll down my window for an ostrich again. (There are no pictures of the ostrich. I could not handle a camera and freak out simultaneously)