THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 4, 1994 TAG: 9412020211
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Coastal Journal
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
Henry and Martha, two ostrich-like birds, went racing through Juanita Swoope's broccoli field, their feathered wings rising and falling like two rag mops getting a vigorous shaking.
The birds were running nowhere fast and Swoope along with her grandchildren, Ashley and Courtney, just laughed at their cantilevered posture as they tore through the garden. Leaning to one side and then the other to keep their balance, the birds were flying although their feet never left the ground.
``They look like road runners,'' Swoope commented.
The speedy long-neck creatures are rheas, pronounced ``ree-ahs.'' Although they look a little like small ostriches or emus, which come from Australia, rheas are native to South America and are unrelated to the species from Down Under. But like ostriches and emus, rheas are beginning to be raised in this country for meat.
But Henry and Martha are not future roasts - not at Juanita and Dave ``Tony'' Swoope's place, that's for sure. They are pets, two of a host of animals that live on their Pungo farm.
The rheas, only 4 months old now, are not a part of the barnyard crowd just yet. They have their own home in the broccoli and asparagus patch until they grow a little bigger.
Now about 3 feet tall, they will grow to 4 to 5 feet, smaller than an ostrich or emu, and weigh about 50 pounds. Rheas, however, do have the distinction of being the largest New World bird, according to ``Birds of the World'' by Oliver L. Austin Jr.
Swoope had been keeping the babies in a shed at night, but one evening at dusk, she couldn't find them. The next morning, she discovered Henry and Martha hunkered down among the tall lacy greens of the asparagus patch.
That behavior fits their pattern in the wild, Austin relates. Rheas often hide in tall pampas grasses on the South American plains to escape predators. In the past, man has been a prime predator.
They were hunted not only for meat and sport but for their feathers. Not as fashionable as ostrich feathers, rhea feathers are most often used for feather dusters, Austin wrote.
He also wrote that the birds ``tame easily and except for a fondness for house plants and garden produce, reportedly make good pets.'' Swoope has noticed that Henry and Martha have a real affinity for her broccoli. It's about gone, she said.
``They also eat bugs and run mosquitoes and gnats down,'' she added.
The Swoopes have found the little birds to be friendly, too. They walk right up when Swoope brings out their feed bowl and are only skittery when someone gets right up on them.
Swoope purchased Henry and Martha at a farm that also raises ostriches and emus just south of the state line in North Carolina. She took Ashley and Courtney with her on the buying trip.
The Swoopes had first seen rheas at a state fair in Utah two years ago and Swoope had been thinking about them ever since. She knew she didn't want ostriches or emus because they have the reputation of being aggressive. But the rheas are birds of a different color.
The family was sold on the little birds right away. One of the full-grown birds at the farm walked up and pecked with interest at the brightly colored designs on the girls' sweaters, Swoope said. Again the rheas were living up to Austin's information that said rheas ``share the ostrich's curiosity for bright and shining objects.''
So this fall, Henry and Martha joined two black Labs, a potbellied pig, several cats, score of chickens, ducks and geese at the Swoopes'. Two black swans, a white swan, several Canada geese and a couple of turkeys also are among the critters in the big barnyard.
``Anything with feathers, I like!'' Swoope said.
P.S.: DON'T MISS OPEN ROADS DAY at Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge Saturday. This is your only chance to see snow geese and other waterfowl that winter at the Knotts Island refuge. Guided van tours begin at 7 a.m. and run every 20 minutes until 10 a.m. Call 429-3100 for reservations. Then from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the refuge is open for those wishing to drive their own cars around the impoundments. The refuge is on Route 615, south of the Knotts Island causeway. The first refuge entrance on the right leads to the office and visitor center which will be open. Tours start at the shop area inside the second refuge entrance a little farther down the road.
SCHNERENSCHNITTE is the term for ornaments cut from paper and it is the topic of a workshop at 2 p.m.. Saturday at the Adam Thoroughood House. Create a Christmas ornament or a table decoration. The fee is $15. For reservations, call 664-6283. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know about
Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555. Enter
category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY REID BARROW
The Swoope sisters, Courtney, 6, and Ashley, 9, enjoy their
grandparents' latest Pungo farm pets, a pair of young rheas named
Henry and Martha.
by CNB