I LOVE getting out with my hubby and doing something! Not that sitting around and watching movies or playing a game is bad, but I think I've had too much of that with the extended winter weather. So two weeks ago we went to the aquarium, yes? So much fun! Well yesterday, we decided to go to the Tracy Aviary. We initially were going to go to Bird World - I guess it's like a giant pet store with more birds and stuff, but then we found out it is in Bountiful. (That, and they have quite a lot of bad reviews for the quality of their animals - which makes me sad :( ) Neither of us had ever visited the aviary, so we looked it up online and discovered it was cheaper than either the zoo or the aquarium ($5/adult versus $9). We called Matt's siblings to see if any of them wanted to go, and Jennifer took us up on the offer. :)
Golden Eagle
We found it pretty easily - I'd never been in Liberty Park in SLC before. The whole idea of having various attractions within the confines of the park was weird to me, but Matt loved it. Guess I'm not a city girl :) We wandered the whole park. Some displays were cooler than others. Example - the eagles were not behind bars. (All of them had or have had wing injuries that make it impossible for them to be released into the wild . . because they can't fly . . so they just sit there and stare :) )
Bald Eagle
They also had a wetlands exhibit where you went in the giant caged area with some of the birds.
Black-necked Stilt in the wetlands exhibit
My favorite though was a little hut area you could go in and be so close to the birds there.
Monk Parakeets in the hut exhibit
Matt's favorite I think was when two trainers brought out Patty, one of three Patagonian Burrowing Parrots. She was trained to fly back and forth between them. While she did that, one of the trainers told us about her and her species.
Patty, the Patagonian Burrowing Parrot
About 2:30pm, we headed over to their little amphitheatre for the new bird show (Fly!, just opened this weekend, show times are 11am, 1pm, and 3pm - If anyone is interested.) I took a survey for them about the show and got 10% off a membership (also much cheaper than the zoo - which we'll be getting tomorrow anyway. $30/double ($27 with my survey discount) versus $60/couple at the zoo).
This Lesser Canada Goose was honking like crazy - so we stopped by to visit him. He stopped. As soon as we walked away, he started up again. We discovered that all birds are sort of alike. (Bhuvan will squak whenever we leave the room, too.)
A little plug for the aviary membership - it's part of a reciprocal membership program. I guess the zoo's membership does the same type of thing, so some of the perks may overlap) Regardless, the aviary offers more perks within Utah . . and since I don't really go to zoos or aquariums out-of-state . . . . this will do. The cool thing for us is that, September through May, with the membership, we get half off at the Living Planet Aquarium. The aquarium is not cool enough for us to visit lots, and definitely not for us to get a membership, but with the reciprocity, we may visit more . . . come September :) Anyway, visit the websites (Aviary, Zoo) for membership benefits if you're interested.
These Guira Cuckoos were in lots of cages. I saw them on the website before we came and decided they were my favorite - mostly because they look funny :)
For this outing - I actually remembered my camera (go me!), as if you hadn't noticed...so here are some more highlights:
I love ducks - they make me laugh :)
I knew this guy was familiar . . . Laughing Kookaburra
(Yes, I've been to Australia.)
Turkey Vulture - apparently they do this to keep warm and to kill bacteria on their feathers after eating. We just thought he was posing. :)
Swainson's Hawk - let's face it, hawks are so cool! This guy was in with three Turkey Vultures.
This is Andy, the Andean Condor - food and a toy were in the present. :)
This was one of the King Vultures. He was another testament to how alike birds are across species. He could see Andy getting fed across the way (we were on the back side of Andy's cage, right next to these guys), and we were not paying him much attention. In order to remedy this (and probably in hopes of getting some food, too), he was antsy. He tried climbing up the fence, and he would happy dance back and forth. Just the night before, Bhuvan was doing the same thing in hopes of being let out. :)
Southern Lapwing in the hut exhibit.
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