Jurong Bird Park

Today, we spent 4 hours at the Jurong Bird Park. It's one of the 4 zoos here (Singapore Zoo, Jurong Bird Park, Night Safari, & River Safari).

We visited the Singapore Zoo a few weeks ago & couldn't see it all in one day.  The unrelenting, suffocating heat doesn't allow for all-day outdoor trips, so we always leave places with the intention to return. It also helps to have a membership that gets us into all 4 zoos (Thanks, Yi Ga Jie).

The entrance of the Bird Park is gorgeous. 
There are overhanging plants & orchids planted above them.

The Jurong Bird Park is amazing!  Our travel time was only 25 mins, & once we entered, we ran straight for the King of the Skies show in the Hawk Arena.  The host presented a few owls, a handful of kites (our favorite), & a bunch of Southeast Asian & African vultures.  The birds flew on & off stage on their own & were constantly being fed treats when they performed a trick, like catching food midair or demonstrating vertical flight.  Afterwards, we ran out for the penguin feeding.  We missed it by a few minutes but discovered that we could pay SGD$2 to feed them.  Atticus & Thelo donned some rubber gloves, received a plate of 5 fish, & reached over the fence to feed the eager birds.  I was reminded of the penguin-feeding session at the San Francisco Zoo, which we've been to a number of times.  The method is quite different: one zookeeper will feed each penguin by hand while the other wields a clipboard & documents which penguins get fed.  Here, at the Jurong Bird Park, I couldn't tell if the zookeepers kept track of that.  Also, I noticed that the park kept multiple kinds of penguin species in the same enclosure.  Our favorite was the rockhopper penguin.  In the indoor enclosure, we found one staring at its reflection in the mirror, & when it eventually walked away, it waddled with its wings outstretched & its back hunched, taking small steps like a little old man.  Feeding the penguins was a wonderful experience that the kids will always remember.  We'd never been so close to penguins before, & they're adorable.

After the penguins, we watched the High Flyers show, which consisted of a presentation of tropical birds: toucans, parrots, giant cockatoos, & macaws.  One parrot, Amigo, counted to ten in English & Mandarin, sang a Singaporean children's song, an Indonesian children's song, & happy birthday.  Two parrots competed in a race to place small balls in the trunk of a tree.  The macaws, Mr. & Mrs. Axel, flew into a small bird box & shut the door.

After this show, we wandered toward the Lory Loft Cafe for lunch.  The kids and I discussed the conflicting beliefs behind the justification of zoos: Are zoos meant provide entertainment for people?  Are they meant to protect wildlife and let them be?  We talked about the ways we domesticate animals for entertainment (The trained parrots seemed no different than a trained dog). Atticus believed that zoos are meant to protect endangered animals & that we ought to leave them alone (albeit caged).  Thelo pointed out that people enjoy watching animals perform.  Why not provide that if it'll bring people to the zoo?  I pointed the conundrum that zoos that wanted more patrons would probably be more inclined to put on these kinds of shows.  All I know is that we'd never see these kinds of shows at the San Diego or San Francisco Zoo.  But then, I realized that this place was a Bird Park, not zoo. 

I read recently about the persistent tiger abuse occurring in Thailand.  It's a shame that tiger parts are still being illegally sold, that they perform by jumping through hoops of fire, & that patrons can pay to pose with a tiger or hold a tiger cub.

On to cuteness: we found the Lory Loft Cafe, in which Atticus & Thelo refused to eat the exorbitantly priced ham & cheese sandwich because the deli ham & cheese were weird.  I reminded them at American food in Singapore will rarely taste the same as American food in America.  Atticus nibbled on a piece of ham for 15 mins so that he could eat mango ice cream.  He also tried hiding it, but Atticus has never been overtly deceptive. He'd hide it, smile shyly, & point to napkin under which he hid the ham.  I felt for him though; the ham did have a strange texture.

The Lory Loft was a set of suspension bridges built through a grove of trees.  People could feed the lories from cups of nectar, so the birds would fly right onto the railing and reach for food.  There were little trays of water hung from the railings too, so that birds could bathe within one's reach.  It was pretty awesome.  There were also lorikeets & Western Crowned pigeons.  We loved that aviary.

Soon after, we discovered that Thelo left his backpack somewhere (Oh, our forgetful Thelo!), so we headed back to the entrance to retrieve it from the membership services office.  The woman there wanted minute detail about the backpack - apparently, telling her it was rainbow colored with a notebook & water bottle inside wasn't enough.  She wanted to know if there were keychains on it.  Thelo didn't remember, so he said no.  I exasperatedly asked if there were other rainbow-colored backpacks behind her desk. She explained that other children lost their backpacks, & she needed to be sure it was his.  "Are they all rainbow colored?!" I asked.  Okay, maybe I was too impatient, but sometimes the rule following here seems so unreasonable! Well, after I gave her a detailed description, we got it back & were too tired to return to the park, so we headed home, after 4 satisfying hours at the bird park.