Since 1994, I have traveled occasionally to Tucson, about an hour and a half drive, south of Phoenix on Interstate 10. Every time I have gone south or returned north, I have spotted the sign for Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch just off the highway. And every time I have thought, "That sounds interesting, I'll have to stop and check it out — maybe next time." However, I have never stopped — that is until Thursday.

After parking my car, I looked at the corral just behind the tent. It looks like a cattle ranch — except that the cattle only have long skinny necks, two legs, and lots of bushy feathers.

Inside they were celebrating Christmas with a nicely decorated tree. But that is not what I was there for.

A shooting gallery — also not what I was there for.

Ostriches — that's what I was there for. These beauties were all decked out in finery to welcome visitors to the ranch.

I paid my admission fee and received a plastic cup with animal food. It rather looked like green Tootsie Rolls — but I suspect the animals, such as this donkey, did not care much about the appearance.

All we humans had to do was put some of that food in one hand and offer it to the donkeys. They have been eating offered food a lot longer than most of us have been offering it — so they have their begging act down pat.

These birds, specifically parakeets, are much smaller than the ostriches I had yet to approach. They liked to eat too. As part of the food packet, we were given a long Popsicle stick with seeds glued to one end. The instructions said to gently push the seed end of the stick into the enclosure. I was surprised by the ferocity of dozens of sweet little parakeets attacking the seeded end of the stick. In 30 seconds, all the seeds were consumed and peace returned to the enclosure.

Next on the feeding tour was the "Goats in the Air" exhibit. A sign reminded us that many breeds of goats are talented climbers in the wild — so they were right at home 25 feet in the air. The contraption to the right of the photo had small metal cups attached to the rubber band that run all the way to the top. We were advised to put some feed in the cup and then turn a crank to deliver it to the goat at the top where it spilled into the feeding trough (the green thingie). The goat seemed very grateful for the treat.

The commotion caused by feeding the goats in the air attracted the attention of some ostriches. They ignored me as I tried to capture a good closeup shot, turning their attention to other guests who were putting food in the metal bins. You could feed the ostriches out of your hand — although they did get a little aggressive — it looked like they wanted the food and the hand holding it too.

This ostrich had that look that screamed, "Where's mine?" After I captured its portrait, I rewarded the ostriches with a good amount of food.