By Jeanne Wieland | Editor
The Australian outback is nearly 10,000 miles away from Milwaukee, but a short drive to the Milwaukee County Zoo will get you up close and personal with its popular parrots.
Wings From Down Under, a special exhibit featuring 1,000 birds commonly found in the wilds of Australia, opens this weekend. The three featured species include cockatiels, Eastern rosellas and grass parakeets split into two exhibit spaces holding 500 birds each. (See our photo gallery.)
Admission to the special exhibit is $2.50, which gives the visitor the unique opportunity to get into a large enclosure with 500 free-flying birds. Each visitor gets one seed stick, a Popsicle stick with millet clustered on the end for the birds to eat.
Wings From Down Under, owned and installed by Living Exhibits Inc., is a first for the zoo. Living Exhibits owner Sally Joseph said the birds will interact with zoo visitors, but there are a few tricks to getting them interested.
"You have to hold still," Joseph said. "If they aren't coming down to eat, you can go to where they are and hold up the stick. Birds operate with a flock mentality, so if one comes down to eat, others are likely to follow."
And once you have one bird's interest, don't be surprised others are suddenly drawn to you as well.
"It's not unusual for someone to have four, five or six birds on their hand and arm," Joseph said.
As for safety, there are a few things to keep in mind. Joseph said the birds are all raised by a California breeder who maintains a clean facility. The birds are strictly exhibit birds; they are never exposed to wild birds that might carry diseases. Because they are seed-eaters, their feces is dry, so zoo visitors don't have to worry about a mess on their clothes.
A calm, relaxed demeanor will attract the birds, Joseph said, so visitors shouldn't reach out to get a bird.
"Anything with a mouth can bite," she said. "If you try to grab one, it may turn around and bite you."
Still, the special exhibit is designed to be very family-friendly. Small children often move around quickly, so it's unlikely that a bird will land on a child unless that child is completely still and holding out a food stick.
Because the birds are intelligent and very curious, strollers won't be allowed inside the exhibit aviaries.
"Birds love to climb on strollers," Joseph said. "They think they're the coolest thing in the world."
In addition to the 1,000 birds in the aviaries, Zoo Public Relations Coordinator Jennifer Diliberti said that four trained birds will be showcased in the spaces throughout the exhibit's run. Trainers will bring these birds in to show visitors some of their special talents.
Wings From Down Under runs through Sept. 7 at the Otto Borchert Family Special Exhibits Building.
Zoo welcomes new meerkats
It's been about three years since the Milwaukee County Zoo has had meerkats, so the new animals are likely to draw a large crowd this summer.
The zoo has four new male meerkats, members of the mongoose family from South Africa. Your kids might recognize them as central characters in two popular family movies, "Madagascar" and "The Lion King."
Meerkats are very curious and very active. "The keepers said they rarely see them sleep," Diliberti said.
Meerkats typically have one on watch, looking for signs of trouble, at all times, so don't be surprised if you notice one of the meerkats standing guard among all the others.
The meerkats are on permanent exhibit in the Small Mammal Building.
For more information on Wings From Down Under or the new meerkats, visit the Milwaukee County Zoo's web site.
See photos of the birds and the meerkats in our photo gallery.
