Creatures Fine, Feathered and (at Times) Scaly

In summer, the streets of Anaheim are flooded with visitors, very few of whom, it seems, ever venture west of Brookhurst Street. The vast, sleepy expanse that stretches through the cities of Stanton, Los Alamitos and finally Long Beach is notable for strawberry farms, golf courses and even one major racetrack--Los Alamitos. Here’s an unusual way to pass an afternoon without getting on your hands and knees to pick berries or betting on a horse. But you’d better be a lover of all creatures, great and small.

11 a.m. to noon: Magnolia Bird Farm is a sprawling maze of aviaries, exotic birds, unusual cages and colorfully illustrated books. It is the complete shop for bird lovers: The minute you hit the front door, you will be bowled over by screeching, cawing, whistling and chirping.

The shop has belonged to the Miser family for nearly 40 years. Owner Frank Miser still buys pigeons for a dollar, sells them for two, and has a huge inventory of finches, budgerigars, cockatiels, cockatoos and whatever else you can think of. On the low end are zebra finches for $8.50 a pair; multicolored macaws, straight from some South American rain forest, can be as much as $1,500 apiece.

Typically, you’ll see people cosseting their potential new pets. On one visit, Greg and Donna Washington, of West Los Angeles, were cradling an African gray called Crackers, deciding whether to make him a new roommate.

“This is simply the best bird farm around,” said Greg, who is glad to make the drive from L.A. Later, the three of us toured the upstairs aviaries--where canaries and chicks are bred--and the zoo-like cages outside the main building, where a variety of birds are displayed.

Noon to 1 p.m.: A shop called Papa Joe Webb’s began life as a dog and cat grooming store, but soon after, Joe and Jan Webb, the couple who run this store, had a better idea.

Today, Papa Joe Webb’s Captive Bred Reptiles and Rodents is one of Orange County’s true oddities. The store specializes in all sizes of mice, rats, lizards and snakes, many of which, the proprietors claim, make wonderful pets. Up to 100 varieties of snakes (all nonpoisonous) pass through the portals of this shop--anything from simple garden snakes to enormous Burmese pythons, truly majestic creatures that are a dozen feet long. Jan has named her two beautifully hued Eastern indigos Cleopatra and Marc Antony. They are suitable for breeding and sell for $1,200 a pair.

Ask to see Squirt, a 25-pound Savannah monitor. Even hold the lizard in your arms if you wish (head supported, like a newborn). For the novice, there are books and audiovisual materials relating to snakes and reptiles. And you’d do well to heed the advice of an expert, Joe Webb, who says, with a chuckle: “Never handle a rabbit or a small rodent before you handle a snake. If you smell like food to a snake, you are food, even if you are 10 feet tall and weigh 600 pounds.”

1 to 2: Assuming you’re not the type to lose your appetite over the sight of a 25-pound lizard, there is a wonderful, inexpensive and exotic restaurant in which to lunch.

El Pollo Ricky No. 2 serves the cuisine of Peru and belongs to Ricky Benites, owner of the original restaurant in Santa Ana. The specialty here is pollo a la brasa-- crisp-skinned rotisserie chicken. Peruvians eat chicken obsessively, smearing it up with a spicy, green herbal puree called ahi. Peruvians do not eat rice and beans but, rather, potato dishes with their chicken.

The potato is Peru’s contribution to the world diet. (Europeans, in fact, did not have or eat potatoes until well after the days of the conquistadors.) That means you’ll try unusual native Peruvian dishes such as papa relleno and papa a la Huancaina.

The first is a fried, stuffed potato croquette with a chopped olives and ground-meat filling, the second boiled potatoes blanketed with a warm, mildly pungent cheese sauce. Wash everything down with an Inca Cola, a yellow Peruvian soft drink with an indescribable flavor. For dessert, there is lucuma ice cream, a burnished-orange confection made with a tropical fruit.

1. Magnolia Bird Farm, 8990 Cerritos Ave. Anaheim (714) 527-3387. Open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

2. Papa Joe Webb’s Captive Bred Reptiles and Rodents, 8440 W. Cerritos Ave, Stanton, (714) 826-6101. Open daily, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

3. El Pollo Ricky No. 2, 6959 E. Cerritos Ave., Stanton, (714) 761-3332. Open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

PARKING: There is parking in lots at each of the sites. BUS: OCTA bus 33 (Fullerton to Huntington) stops at Magnolia and Cerritos avenues; bus 25 stops at Knott and Cerritos avenues.