Visit to the Abe-iary

The Aviary has $1 admission days on Wednesdays in the winter, so we nabbed the older boys from school and drove up for a visit.  Malachi was pleased that we were going to the Abe-iary ("It's so FUN for you there, Abey!" he said) and then even more pleased when he discovered that it was "a zoo for birdies" (Abe's concise explanation).  It was an absolutely perfect March day (63 degrees! I was in short sleeves!) and we had a great time.  It was truly worth the $1 (and yes, that's a veiled reference to how relatively small this place is). :)

Daffodils out?!

Do birds have faces? This sign seems very strange to me.

  

 

There were lots of great birds to see.  The photo-ops weren't great, since most were behind fences or wire mesh, but we loved the bald eagle---

 

the scarlet . . . ibi?--

 

and the toucans, to name a few.

 

I thought this guy was the cutest bird.

 

Come again, Pelican!

Four birdies.

Oops!  Five.

I can't forget this little Junie-lark!

SO happy about all the birdies.  (Owls, in this case.)

 

I always like peacocks.

 

But I've never (!) seen one spreading out his plumage before!  This was one of the coolest things we saw.  Malachi said the peacock must be trying to "trap" the female with his feathers (he meant "attract," I think) and everyone thought it was quite funny how she just ignored him.

 

It was interesting how concave the shape of his tail was when it was displayed like this. It made a nice little fan around his head and neck.

 

 

Very interesting from behind too. I've never known about those long, stiff feathers holding the "eye" feathers up. And his rusty tail feathers are pretty too.

 

Abe and Seb and Malachi wondered if, since the female peacock didn't stick around long, the peacock was mollified by OUR interest in him. "At least he knows we appreciated it," said Abe, as Ky called out "Thank you!" to our feathered friend.

 

 

These moveable bird sculptures were, as you can imagine, a big hit

 

And naturally, this friendly birdie also made several appearances during the afternoon, letting us pet him if we were very quiet and still.