Can you remember when you made your last visit to Jurong Bird Park? In the first of the 3 part series, SGTOP10 brings you, at the comfort of your computer, the 10 most attractive bird exhibits and interesting information about them. If you want a truly fun and enriching experience, arrange a day with get your family and friends, and fly down to the bird park! Visitors’ information can be found here.
Below is a video where you can have a short glimpse of what the bird park has to offer.
ShoeBill
Shoebills ambush their prey while standing in shallow water. These birds build solitary nests on thick mats of floating vegetation. With their bills, they scoop up water and pour it over their eggs and chicks to keep them from overheating. Wetlands drained for agriculture and cattle grazing endanger their populations
Saddle-Billed Stork
The male has dark eyes; the female has bright yellow eyes. Storks do not have a voice and communicate by rattling their bills and ritualized dances. They depend on wetlands for agriculture, which are shrinking due to expanding settlements and drainage in Africa.
If you have watched the recent Pixar Animation UP, you will remember the short featured film call “Partly Cloudly” in which the messenger birds are actually storks!
Victoria Crowned Pigeon
The Victoria crowned pigeon is located in the Royal Ramble exhibits. It is said to be the most impressive among the three species of Crowned Pigeons. The crest is tipped with white, and the upper breast is maroon. The bird is gregarious and normally is found in parties of up to ten birds. It is usually a peaceful bird and is rarely aggressive. It feeds on fallen fruits, berries, seeds and small crabs. In this exhibit, the pigeons are allowed to roam freely, so be prepared! You might just bumped into the one right in front of you!
Macaws
You will never miss this exhibit, as it sits right in front of you after entering the main entrance. You can also identify this species by its loud screeching and squawking.
Macaws are members of the parrot family. Their colorful plumage may seem bold to us, but it blends in well with the foliage and colorful fruit and flowers of the rainforests, making it difficult for predators to spot them.
Macaws are curious birds that like to explore. They love to chew things to keep their beaks in good shape. The macaws in the bird park are given various enrichment tools to keep them occupied. Macaws live in pairs or flocks of 10 to 30 individuals. They screech and squawk to talk to one another, to mark their territory, or just for fun
White Bellied Sea Eagle
This is the largest eagle in Singapore. This is also the most magnificent raptor in Singapore. An extremely territorial species, a pair will engage in spectacular aerial courtship displays, like talons locking and death defying swoops and dives.
The white bellied eagle was spotted during our 2008 National Day Rehearsal at Marina Bay. There is a posting on ClubSnap which has some beautiful pictures of it. You can check it out at this link.
Pelicans
Pelicans are birds with a distinctive pouch under their beak.
Pelicans fly in V Formations to save energy. This is because Pelicans flying in a ‘V’ can glide for extended periods using the other birds’ air streams. The Australian pelican has the longest beak of any bird in the world. The record beak length is 400 – 500 mm.
Does anyone know of any animation movies that uses the Pelican has one of the characters?
Flamingo (Caribbean Flamingo)
Flamingos nest in huge colonies. Nesting usually occurs at the beginning of the rainy season. Flamingos build nest mounds where a single white egg is laid. Both parents incubate the egg for 28 – 30 days. The chicks are fed by the parents on flamingo’s milk, a secretion formed in the adults’ crop. It contains 8% protein, 15% fat and 1% red blood cells. This milk is similar in nutritional value to that of mammals.
In the attached picture you find the Caribbean Flamingo. It is the most brightly colored of the Flamingos. The red plumage is attained when the bird is about 3 – 4 years old. The male is larger than the female. It feeds with its head completely submerged, feeding close to the bottom.
Owls
In the World of Darkness exhibit, you will find the owl species in residence. The place is pitch black with dimly lit floor lights to guide your way . No flash photography is allowed , as that may frightened the owls.
Owls have acute hearing. They can hear a mouse stepping on a twig from 23 metres away. Owls have silent flight, which enables them to swoop down and approach prey without being heard.
Check out the Great Gray Owl when you are there. The great gray owl has superb hearing. It is able to detect prey beneath snow by sound alone. To reach its prey, it can break through a half metre of snow crust with its feet. Females can weigh almost twice as much as males. As no Flash is allowed in the exhibits, you will just have to imagine what an Owl looks like for now.
Hornbills and Toucans
Some tribesman in Africa, Borneo, Burma and other countries regard the hornbills as sacred birds and protect these birds from being poached by hunters. They live in the forests, woodlands and savannas of Africa, Southern Asia, and islands east of New Guinea. Hornbills nest in natural tree cavities. The female seals the nest entrance, leaving a narrow slit through which her mate feeds her throughout the incubation period, which ranges from 25 to 40 days. The 2 -5 young take another 28 to 56 days before they are ready to break out of their nest.
The main difference between Toucans and Hornbills is that the toucan’s bill is enormous and colourful. In some species, the bill is as big as the body, but it is not as heavy as it looks. Toucans are sometimes mistaken for the hornbills, which they resemble, but they lack the “horn” or casque above the bill. Can you identify which is which in the above picture?
Lories
Lories are found in Australia, New Guinea , Indonesia and the South pacific islands. They are small sized parrots. You can tell them apart from other parrots by their unique brush like tongue. In the Lory Loft exhibit, you can pay $3 for some food and you can feed the lories with it. If you get lucky, you will have 4 to 5 lories standing on your arm!
Have you flocked to the other Bird Park articles yet?
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