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Healesville Sanctuary Healesville Sanctuary Visit

Discussion in 'Australia' started by nanoboy, 27 Jan 2012.

  1. nanoboy

    nanoboy Well-Known Member

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    We popped down to Healesville Sanctuary on Australia Day (26/01/12) with the aim of doing a few pre-booked "magic moments".

    At 11:30am, there were approximately 100 people in the queue, but zero people in the FOTZ members queue, so that was pretty cool to flash our membership cards.

    We rushed off to the bird show at 12 noon, stood in the shade next to the area where we knew that the birds land during the show - it pays to be a regular. :D The bird show is now a combination of the two shows (birds of prey and parrots) that they used to put on until recently. Sadly, since we were last there (August 2011) no new elements have been added to the show. It was the usual parade of the wedge tailed eagle, the black breasted buzzard breaking the egg, the barking owl barking, and the long billed corella talking, to name a few. All in all, pretty entertaining still!

    Then we rushed off to do a 10 minute encounter with the Goodfellow's tree kangaroo. What a beautiful animal! I am sure that the encounter lasted a bit longer though. There were 6 people on 'tour', and the keeper fed the kangaroo and we individually patted her (the kangaroo, not the keeper!) whilst she was eating. They are so fluffy! This is a must-do experience for anyone who is into encounters, and at $10, you can't go wrong.

    After an overpriced, albeit tasty, lunch in the bistro, we had our second "magic moment", this time with a pair of ~8 month old 'baby' wombats. I love wombats, so this was a treat for us. These were "common wombats" (although they really should change that name I think, since they aren't as common any more - bare-nosed is better), so their coats were very coarse. We got to feed them with grass, which they readily ate from our hands, and the keeper put them on our laps (while she kept a firm grip on them) for a quick photo. This second 'tour' group was a bit wack though - very selfish, always getting in the way of photos, and never wanting the wombats to eat from anyone else (I'll keep my stereotypes to myself). But, at $10 per person, what do you expect? Overall, still a pretty cool experience for the price.

    On our way out, I stopped a random employee (who turned out to be the guy that did the bird show) and asked why the cockatoo enclosure was undergoing repairs and where were the black cockatoos. Turns out that Healesville is planning to open an interactive "World of Parrots" walk-through aviary by Easter. At set times, visitors will be able to actually feed the birds by hand (I am thinking Kuranda Bird World here). Right now, he said, quite a few birds are being hand-raised behind the scenes. From what he said, there will be cockatoos, cockatiels, eclectus parrots, and golden-shouldered parrots, to name a few. I am really looking forward to this new enclosure, of course!!

    A few pics are to follow.
     
  2. Chlidonias

    Chlidonias Moderator Staff Member 15+ year member

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    I love Healesville. I haven't been since...2007 I think....but I fondly remember their nocturnal house and platypus house (although I don't like their weird outdoor pool). I also recall the wild wedge-tailed eagle that spooked the captive one in the free-flight show, and was then chased off by currawongs.
     
  3. nanoboy

    nanoboy Well-Known Member

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    A few pics from our visit. We spotted a few wild yellow-tailed black cockatoos in the sanctuary, so that was pretty cool.
     

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  4. nanoboy

    nanoboy Well-Known Member

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    Yeah there was a wild wedge-tailed eagle about that spooked the Major Mitchell, so we didn't get to see him this time.

    I forgot to mention that they have "Australia's Top 10 deadliest snakes" on display in the reptile house. It's a new gimmick just for the summer I think. I was mildly amused that the top 3 were the _____ taipan, the eastern brown, and the _____ taipan. The coastal and inland taipans were there, but I can't seem to remember which was the deadliest. Oh yeah, the amusing bit: no mention was made anywhere of the Central Ranges taipan. A cursory mention might have been good, just to whet the appetite that there are possibly highly venomous snakes out there waiting to be described.
     
  5. Hix

    Hix Wildlife Enthusiast and Lover of Islands 15+ year member Premium Member

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    Inland Taipan is deadliest, then Eastern Brown, then Coastal Taipan. Most people have never even heard of the Central Ranges Taipan and - as a far as I know - it's venom has not been assessed.

    :p

    Hix
     
  6. nanoboy

    nanoboy Well-Known Member

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    It seems logical though, that as a taipan, it would be extremely venomous. A footnote would have been cool. A "snake keeper" at Territory Wildlife Park (near Darwin) was telling us about the "two species of taipan" in 2010, but was not aware of the third one that I mentioned. So I agree that most people have never heard of it, but just commenting that a cursory mention might have been cool. :D
     
  7. Chlidonias

    Chlidonias Moderator Staff Member 15+ year member

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    remember that the Central Ranges taipan was only discovered in 2007 and as a species is barely known. While in an ideal world staff at zoos would be experts on wildlife the truth is most of them really know little beyond what they need to know or what they are provided with by zoo management (not all staff are like this obviously, but a large majority are). Signage is also expensive to produce (or update).

    But I do agree, even a small footnote on a new species would be good, especially if the display you mention is a newly-set up or temporary one.
     
  8. nanoboy

    nanoboy Well-Known Member

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    Yup, it's a new display: Australia's Top 10 Deadliest - Zoos Victoria
     
  9. nanoboy

    nanoboy Well-Known Member

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    We recently visited Healesville Sanctuary. It was pouring with rain for most of the day, and the temperature barely climbed above 10C. Brrrr!

    We went quite early to do the Brekkie with the Birds. Basically you pay $17pp and spend about 20 minutes with the parrots, and you get a free coffee and muffin in the restaurant.

    You get to hand-feed some really friendly red-tailed black cockatoos that readily perch on your arm or shoulder. We also fed some bush stone curlews, apostlebirds, eclectus parrots, and white headed pigeons. In the other aviary, we fed regent parrots, budgies, and lorikeets. Not a bad day out at all!
     
  10. Jabiru96

    Jabiru96 Well-Known Member

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    Was this all part of the nearly opened 'Land of Parrots' area?
     
  11. PAT

    PAT Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    I have a question about the platypus exhibit. Last time I was there (probably this time last year :( ) the outdoor platypus exhibit was being renovated and no one could get close enough to see it. Has anything changed around that area?
     
  12. nanoboy

    nanoboy Well-Known Member

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    Jabiru96, yes it was in the Land of Parrots aviaries. I forgot to mention that the parrot encounter was at 9:45am, whereas the aviaries open to the public at 10:30am. We went back to the aviaries at 10:30am to get some better pics of the parrots, and guess what? There were some Friends of the Zoo volunteers who were giving you food to feed the parrots for free!! It was a bit of a WTF moment, because clearly if you are the first ones in on a not-so-busy day, then you can feed the birds for free. Ah well - you live and you learn.

    PAT, I am sorry to say that I don't know if the outdoor exhibit is open again. It was raining quite a lot, and after leaving the parrot aviaries, we went to the animal hospital for the 'vet talk' via the mandatory walk-through platypus exhibit. We did not have time to even look in the direction of the outdoor platypus exhibit. Sorry I can't answer your question.
     
  13. PAT

    PAT Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    That's ok. It just means I'll need to visit again soon :)
     
  14. Jabiru96

    Jabiru96 Well-Known Member

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  15. nanoboy

    nanoboy Well-Known Member

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    This is fantastic news. Thanks for sharing.