Animal Diaries Archive

Our Roving Birds

6 August 2004

When walking around the Zoo, if you hear a "hello" or a "bye bye" it may not necessarily be an Australia Zoo staff person. It may instead be a team member of a different kind; perhaps one of our cheeky Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos, softly-spoken Major Mitchells or our loud and impressive Green-Winged Macaws.

Our roving birds love coming into the Zoo to say hello or even to make some special friends with our Zoo guests. The roving birds are always in training whether it's learning new and exciting behaviours, breaking old cheeky habits or working closely with new rovers.

The bird flight show is only new, and has currently been going for about three months now in the new Australia Zoo Crocoseum. We are constantly bringing new trained talent into these shows and at present we are training our two beautiful three-year-old Green-Winged Macaws Inca and Picasso.

Our roving area is growing all the time. Training new rovers in our wandering wildlife team is part of my job when it comes to birds. We need to introduce all our new rovers to all our gorgeous roving birds, so they can bring them out and into the zoo for everyone to meet.

Some of the birds love to wave as guests are walking by, dance to the didgeridoo that Matt James plays or even tell a tale or two. Most of all, though, they love to show off.

So keep an eye out for these beautiful but cheeky birds as you wander through the Zoo, and be sure to come up and say g'day when you see them.

Rover Carly