We went to the L. A. Zoo yesterday. It was a great day.
One of the funniest things we did was see the bird show.
When we got there the place was packed so we walked back and forth looking for a seat and by our third trip across the place the show was about to start and one of the trainers said “Sir you’ll have to take a seat” so I jumped into a single seat in the second row and Cheryl sat in front of me in the first row. I’m glad we didn’t find seats on our own, they wouldn’t have been that good.
Once the show started they said they needed a volunteer so Cheryl raised her hand. The trainer asked her if she had a dollar and she didn’t so they picked a different lady that was way in the top of the stands. They had her take out a dollar and hold it in her outstretched hand. Then this cute little albino cockatiel flew up and took the dollar bill out of her hand and brought it back to the trainer. The trainer said “Thank you, I hope you enjoy the rest of the show”. But then she had the bird take the dollar back to the lady.
They continued the show having a few other birds perform then the trainer said she needed another volunteer and she looked right at Cheryl and said “…and this time you don’t need a dollar”. They had her go up to the edge of the stage area and explained what was going to happen.
The trainer explained to Cheryl that she was going to give her two grapes, one for each hand, and she should hold them in her outstretched arms. Then the bird would come out and land on the stump in front of her, next it would fly up and land on her right arm and eat that grape then it would fly over her head and land on her left arm and eat that grape, then it would return to the stump. The trainer wanted to make sure Cheryl understood what would happen and that she was not going to get freaked out or anything.
Cheryl said she was fine and she loved animals.
Right after the above photo was taken the trainer stepped away and waited for the bird to come out. The bird didn’t show up so she said “Let me go back and see what’s going on”. As soon as the trainer left they started playing that song “I’m too sexy for my…”
And then all hell broke loose. I couldn’t react as fast as Cheryl did but then I didn’t see it from her vantage point. All I knew was that Cheryl was suddenly back in front of me, she was trying to hide the grapes the trainer gave her so the bird wouldn’t see them and everybody in the place was busting up.
Turns out the bird was a big ugly “ground hornbill”.
If you ask her today Cheryl will tell you that she wasn’t that scared but I’m not sure about that. All I know is that after we left the show people kept coming up to her at random in the zoo and asking her if she was part of the show and when she said “No” they said “Oh so that was real fear!”
LOL.
It was waaaay funny. I have a grainy video I took after I regained my composure enough to turn the camera on. Everyone was still laughing and you can hear one guy telling her “You can do it”.
