Although Australia is known for having a lot of endemic species, I was thinking more of kangaroos, wallabies, quokkas, koalas; definitely not birds, except for emus.
As it was already high noon, many visitors were holded up under shelter, in a shed that I would best describe as a structure that came from the village I stayed at as a child.
The aviary wasn't big but it was said to have 30 bird species from Australia! Given the open concept and my apparent lack of observation, I am keeping my fingers crossed on how many species I could catch with my naked eyes.
Hidden in the tree were some green parrots that looked quite similar to the red-breasted parakeets now commonly found in Singapore, except they had blue heads.
Of course there's the emu. This kind is known as the common emu and is not endangered given their current population in the wild which numbers over 600,000!
Love this photo of a stunned parrot.
Magpie Goose - looking odd with a pair of out-of-place legs that had large, webbed feet said to be only partially webbed.
Beautiful pair of pink and black parrots.
Red-tailed black cockatoo that was enjoying the attention from visitors. Fun facts: the species was "the official mascot of the 2006 Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne", and for one of the Australian aboriginal group, this species is also known "to accompany the dead to heaven".
Have you heard of this nursery rhyme called "Kookaburra"? I did but I didn't know how it looked like; hence, imagine my surprise when I saw it at Bird Paradise Mandai. Wasn't that a kingfisher?! Albeit a duller looking one.
Blending in with the tree and somewhat like a wooden stump or branch, it's one of the few birds that I was curious about as their appearance was extraordinary!
Known as the Tawny Frogmouth, it had an wide mouth similar to a frog (hence the name)! It was so beautiful; there's even a rainbow captured on the photo!
=====
No comments:
Post a Comment