Or maybe a little ostrich-back jaunt this evening.

15 September 2025

Hello friends,

Have you ever felt the need to take an expanded view of things?

A humble example: consider life as an ostrich. Or something better, as an ostrich jockey. The largest and heaviest of all birds now walking the earth, ostriches also lay eggs that hold the record for the biggest: about three pounds, and about six inches if you measure them the longest way. In a footrace, no bird sprints faster.

Ostriches have received a reputation from human jokesters for being dingbats and bird-brains, but in real life they are very intelligent. The fact that their eyes are bigger than their brains seems to be irrelevant. They only put their heads in the sand to harvest sand crystals for their gizzards. And like anyone else, they lie low when enemies are near. When forced to fight they are fierce opponents, armed with clawed feet and wicked kicks. Here’s a fast look at an ostrich fight: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fyIe3hiGTqY

If, in your dreams, you have found yourself riding on an ostrich, you are not alone. There’s plenty of evidence that it can be done.  https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CtQ7YdsKYTU  In fact, ostrich-racing is a sport in a few places on Earth, including South Africa.

As an expanded view of things, I’d love three minutes as an ostrich-jockey, running on a very padded surface of course. Not claiming I could stay in the saddle that long, though.