Note: The following post is part of a longer thread covering my trip to the Torres Strait islands and a few days in Cairns on the way home To Boigu and Beyond. Although this post is designed as a standalone review, some aspects of it may relate back to the original thread. The visit occurred on the morning of the 15th day of my holiday (20th March, 2020). ************************************************************************ I was really surprised at the lack of people and traffic in Kuranda. For a touristy town in school holidays it was very quiet. The Markets were open but they had no customers, and the only tourists I saw were a Japanese couple going into the Koala Gardens. The Coronavirus was hitting businesses hard. In fact, I was the only person in Birdworld for the half-hour I was there. The girl on the gate told me any jewellery or piercings/studs/rings might be removed or damaged by some of the birds, and although I don’t have any of those they suggested my metal watch was at risk, so I took it off and put it in my pocket. I later realised the watch was the least of my worries. Birdworld is one big aviary built onto the side of a steepish incline, 30 metres square. I visited here once before in 2005 and nothing much has changed since then. Entry at the top is onto a deck-like area with shelters and food stations, while a path on the left winds down the slope to the bottom where there is an aviary housing finches and other small species, a pond for waterbirds, and a couple of enclosures for cassowary, before winding back up the other side to the deck and the entrance/exit. The aviary is heavily vegetated, and many of the birds on the ‘bird guide’ sheet I was given I didn’t see, presumably because they were well hidden amongst the foliage. After photographing some of the birds at the top, mostly parrots like Alexandrines, Ringnecks, Lories, Lorikeets, some Conures and a Major Mitchell Cockatoo, I made my way down the path past Redwing Parrots and Red-tailed Black Cockatoos, saw a pair of Plumhead Parrots in a thickly foliaged tree and kept going down to the bottom. The finch aviary was a good size – about 4 metres long, 2.5 deep and 2 high – and housed a good number of finches, sparrows and quail, mostly species commonly kept in backyard aviaries. The waterfowl pond was long, about the width of the aviary in length (so about 15 metres) and three or four metres wide with a small island. A large tree grew on the island. A number of waterbirds were here including Mandarin, Radjah and Wandering Whistle-ducks, Black Swan, Dusky Moorhen, Glossy Ibis, White-faced Heron, Pied Heron and Cattle Egret. Views from the Top Deck Alexandrine and Ringneck Parrots Black-capped Lory Hahns Macaw and Nanday Conure Plumhead Parrot Finch Aviary Waterfowl area Wandering Whistle-ducks Glossy Ibis Cattle Egret As I have mentioned previously (maybe not in this thread, but in others) I normally carry two cameras with me – a Canon EOS with 100-400mm zoom lens, and smaller Canon IXUS for taking normal photos of scenery or – more usually – exhibits. To take a photo of the pond I removed the IXUS from my pocket and while I was switching it on a Little Corella flew onto my arm, presumably under the impression I had removed something edible from my pocket; Birdworld sells food to feed the birds, which naturally I had not bought. I quickly took a couple of photos and just as rapidly put the camera away as the Corella tried to grab the wrist-cord. And then a fully-grown Blue-and-Gold Macaw appeared literally out of nowhere – I was looking down to put my camera back in my pocket (my t-shirt was getting in the way) and when I looked up there was a metre of blue-and-gold wingspan right in front of my face as the bird landed on my arm. The corella bolted as soon as the macaw materialised – clearly frightened – and the macaw landed where the corella had been on my arm. Looking around he could see there was no food and, just as I was thinking it was a good job I had put my watch in my pocket, the macaw leaned forward towards my face with its open beak and … grabbed my reading glasses that were sitting on my nose. I had forgotten I was wearing them. I only need them for reading and I’ve become so used to them that I forget I’m wearing them. When I was (much) younger we had a cockatiel that I tamed from a young age, and he loved riding around on shoulders and was particularly fond of chewing my mother’s glasses chain. So I should have expected something similar from the macaw. My glasses don’t have a chain or a cord but instead a fabric strap and thankfully it was the strap the macaw seemed interested in chewing, so I removed the spectacles by pulling the arms out of the strap and putting them in my pocket. Then, after a little tug-of-war I managed to get the strap away, undamaged, and hastily shoved that in my pocket too. The Macaw turned his head sideways and viewed me with one eye; I had not brought him any food and I wouldn’t let him play with my belongings – clearly I did not know the rules of entry to his little domain. But he decided there were other straps he could play with so he walked up onto my shoulder and started chewing on the strap of my Canon, which was slung over my shoulder. I quickly moved it to my other shoulder, at which point he started on the strap of my sling (a sling-like bag for carrying my cameras). This is a wider strap and more durable so I was happy to leave him with that for a bit while I continued on through the aviary. While he was chewing on the strap he ignored my camera so I was able to take a few photos on my way back to the entrance. There are a number of dead sticks and branches that the birds perch on up here, and I walked over to one intending to put the macaw on one of them, but as I reached up for him to step onto my hand, he moved around onto my neck. Clearly he knew my intentions. I reached around further until my fingers touched his toes and just as I was going to push my fingers under I felt his beak take my index finger and gently move my hand away. He wasn’t biting hard, applying just enough pressure to pick up my finger and move my hand. I tried another tack instead; I walked over to one of the feeding stations with a dead branch and some fresh fruit. The macaw took the hint and hopped off and grabbed a piece of fig. Checking the straps of my camera and sling I found absolutely no damage whatsoever. He was certainly scraping his beak on them as I could hear the rasping noise constantly, but I guess maybe he liked the taste of them and was just licking it and moving it between his beak was the easiest way of getting his tongue onto it. The female redwing parrots were feeding from a small basket mounted on a wall, and I noticed they were sharing the fruit with a couple of rather bold Black Rats. Deciding to do another quick circuit I went back down the path again, and at the bottom the Corella rejoined me. Although he also showed interest in my straps, he liked having his head scratched and was more interested in nibbling on the individual hairs in my beard and on my neck. So this way he hitch-hiked a ride back to the top. On the way I found a pair if Blue-fronted Amazons, Bleeding Heart Pigeon, Chattering Lories, another pair of Blue-and-Gold Macaws that were far more interested in each other than me, Eclectus Parrots and Double-eyed Fig Parrots. Back at the top, near the feeding stations I saw a male Satin Bowerbird hopping the ground near a Bar-shouldered Dove that was feeding on spilled seed, more Chattering Lories, a White-headed Pigeon, a pair of Lorikeets – a normal Rainbow and a Mustard Red-collared Lorikeet (captive bred mutation) – and a Yellow Honeyeater. Black Rat Blue-fronted Amazon Luzon Bleeding Heart Pigeon Blue-and-Gold Macaws Eclectus Parrots Macleay's Double-eyed Fig Parrot Chattering Lory Helmeted Friarbird Like the Macaw, the Corella didn’t want to leave and being smaller he found it easier to run from one shoulder to the other to avoid my hand. Unlike the Macaw, he was squawking and hitting my hand with his closed beak, and violently throwing my shoulders about didn’t do the trick either. But constant pestering on my behalf and he finally jumped off. I hurried out the exit before he changed his mind. (As I said, I was the only person in the aviary and there were no staff, except the girl on the gate and she was at the Entrance outside the aviary – to get her help to remove the bird I would have had to leave the aviary, which would give the bird the opportunity to fly away.) Little Corella ************************************************************************ In summary: Birdworld has a large number of birds and a variety of species kept in the one large walkthrough aviary. Most of the birds are those that are commonly kept in captivity in backyard aviaries in Australia, with a few exceptions like the Macaws and the Amazons which are bred as pets, but not commonly kept. For regular zoo-goers the aviary has little to offer, but for the general public it is a great interactive experience, especially if they like parrots as there are a great many species on show. This is just my opinion and, as always, I recommend anyone in the vicinity pay a visit and write a review of their own impressions, especially if their views differ from mine. Note: Posts have a limit of twenty photos - there are more images in the Birdworld gallery. Hix
