Located within the Butterfly, Bugs & Birds is the interactive aviary that is home to more than 40 small, exotic parrots. They are free-flying, playful, intelligent, and full of personality. They can entertain you for hours! Our parrots will land all over you and are not shy about coming down to say hello! Additionally, seed cups are available for sale at the front desk of the Exhibition Center so that you can feed our aviary birds. This is a wonderful experience and the best way to ensure that they fly down to you! If you are uneasy about having birds land on you, don’t be afraid to come in and say hello! Our recently renovated exhibit now allows our guests the option to walk inside the aviary with our birds or view them from a bird-free observation area!
The Bird habitat contains several parrot species, including green-cheeked conures, dusky-capped conures, Indian ringnecks, peach-faced lovebirds, and everyone’s favorites, sun conures! All of our birds were purchased from breeding facilities and not taken from the wild. Conures can be found in the rainforests of Central and South America, Indian ringnecks can be found in Southeast Asia, and lovebirds can be found in Africa.
Like many other parrots, all of our aviary birds are strictly herbivorous in the wild. They feed on seeds, fruits, vegetables, flowers, and even nectar in the wild. In the aviary, they are given a nutritionally balanced diet of fruits, vegetables and nuts on top of a nutritious pellet mix. The safflower seed that you may purchase at the front desk is portioned out daily to ensure that the birds do not eat too much fatty seed!
Many species of Parrots that can be found in the pet industry are endangered in the wild, including sun conures and golden-capped conures, two species present in the Bird exhibit.
Many Parrots don’t build nests like many other birds. Instead, they lay their eggs in downed logs, holes in trees, or in the fronds of palm trees.
Some parrots, including the Quaker Parrot, have managed to establish populations in the United States. While interesting, they are very aggressive and invasive and outcompete local birds for food and territory .