Small bird feeding session other than Rainbow Lorikeets
- Thread starter Jurek7
- Start date
At the Penang Bird Park (Malaysia) one of their walk-through aviaries had dispensers for little containers of mealworms for feeding the birds, like this Drongo Cuckoo:
In Walsrode in the large aviary, you can buy mealworms, where you can feed many birds, like the terns, wadders, storks, ibisis and co.
I really wonder if a lorikeet-like public feeding system could work with swift parrots. I think I've asked on here before, and received (understandably) trepidatious answers, but has anyone on here heard of this being tried, either in Europe or Australia, or knows any fundamental reason why it wouldn't work?
Kalaw
Well-Known Member
Zoo Magdeburg lets you feed flowers with nectar to a selection of Australian birds (they’re free but a small donation is suggested). As well as budgies, there are Crested Pigeons and Masked Lapwings (and probably more that I have forgotten), although I doubt the latter will eat the flowers. Until recently there were even rarities like Wonga Pigeon and Mulga Parrot, although sadly those are no longer present.
Photo credit to @MagpieGoose
Photo credit to @MagpieGoose
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Essentially all birds at Birdworld Kuranda are able to be fed, including various parrots large and small, estrildid finches, pigeons and doves, waterfowl, rails, pheasants and the like. Visitors regularly feed the Southern Cassowary too, despite signs warning against it, but this rule is not enforced. Other birds are present, but you may have a hard time convincing ibises and herons to eat birdseed and grapes!
Hmm. Now that is an interesting idea.
Lafone
Well-Known Member
Tropical Birdland (UK) allows feeding of nearly all the birds (smaller than lorikeets and indeed larger) and colour code the exhibits with a disc showing the sort of food they enjoy. They also have feeding in the free perching walk around area.
LWP (also UK) allow feeding of the aviary based birds plus the birds in the free flight walkthroughs (there are two, one for larger birds and the other for smaller parakeets, budgies etc) as well as the macaws that fly about.
Both places sell food for the birds including peanuts, walnuts, millet etc.
Moorhunhe
Well-Known Member
If you know to expect it to be a busy day there, if you don't get some food in the first 2 hours of being there, it's quite a waste of money. They keep selling food until the end of the day, and we noticed most birds (and meerkats, they were over fed when we were there) are barely interested anymore when offered a peanut.
Lafone
Well-Known Member
Definitely one of the down sides of open feeding though it’s good the birds self regulate in a way.
When I went to tropical birdland they advised the birds were full and gave me a leftover bag without charging (I went later in the day) so that was friendly.
Given how tame even wild European Robins can get - it is easy to get them to feed from your hand with mealworms - I suspect many of the thrushes and other insectivorous birds could be hand fed by the oublic. The problem as noted above would be overfeeding or birds just getting full and no longer coming to be fed. Lorikeets have such active metabolisms that this is less of an issue, especially if the quantity of food offered per visitor is small.
Not sure that I would recommend that!
Many times on busy days even lorikeets can get disinterested in food, I've observed this on numerous occasions.
Absolutely - I have seen this as well. But after a break of an hour they will usually be coming down to feed, especially in large aviaries where they burn up more calories in exercise.