KARYN TANIA LEE
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON TASKS
I was assigned as a volunteer to Parrot Paradise at Jurong Bird Park to assist keepers in everyday husbandry tasks as well as observe the keepers train various birds. I had the privilege of being under very friendly keepers throughout my 1 month attachment here, always ensuring that they included me during discussions as well as sharing their knowledge on the birds they were caring for.
TASKS ASSIGNED
Basic husbandry tasks included preparing food, cleaning the aviary, putting up browse for the birds to play with and monitoring the behaviour of certain birds in aviaries. When there was nothing to do, the keepers allowed me to visit other sections of the park as well as spend time to observe the birds from the outside of the aviary. A few interesting things that I was involved in and got to experience during the month-long attachment include:
- Replacing the ground substrate in PP02, PP03 & PP07 with pine bark and PP08 with red gravel
- For Chinese New Year paper red packets with seeds were hung up in the aviaries as a form of enrichment for the birds, make it challenging for the birds to get their food
- Observing keepers do conditioning with Lear's and Hyacinth Macaws
- Herding flamingos to other side of enclosure to allow staff to clean out the mud
- Feeding flamingos --> an interesting experience to see flamingos filter feed up close
- Hand feed some of the friendly large macaws nuts
- Spending time with the birds in PP08 (type of birds will be specified below)
CONTENT KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS LEARNT
Teamwork & Communication
Everyday there are many tasks that we are required to complete, as such it is crucial that the keepers and I have good teamwork to allow us to complete our tasks with great efficiency and quality. Apart from Parrot Paradise, the Breeding Blocks and Nursery are also a part of the same section. Due to the way the rostering works, the keepers can be assigned to different sub sections everyday. To ensure that all the birds are healthy & are not acting abnormally, the keepers have to keep each other informed about the birds' appetite, physical appearance and if they're exhibiting signs of aggression or sickness that are different from their normal behaviour.
Some examples of issues that needed to be taken note of while I was volunteering were: A galah walking with a slight limp, a Northern Red-shouldered Macaw with a misaligned beak, Red-and-green Macaw that was lethargic for a few days in a row.
Patience
Working with animals requires a lot more patience as compared to working with colleagues. Keepers not only need to care for the basic needs of the birds, they also have to be calm and patient when dealing with the birds while they are in the aviary as well. There are definitely instances where the birds exhibit irrational behaviour or are stressed out, under those circumstances the keepers have to be patient with the birds to ensure the safety of both the birds and themselves. One instance where keepers have to be extremely patient is when they are conditioning and training the birds. One cannot expect birds to immediately do as you command, thus the keepers have to spend many hours training the birds. They cannot be too hasty otherwise they could potentially scare the bird and making their job harder, reversing all the efforts from previous training sessions.
Basic information about the birds
Here is a table of the birds that I was caring for at Parrot Paradise:
While on my attachment I learnt a few interesting things about their diets.
Generally for parrots, the larger the bird, the stronger their beaks, the more energy they require, as such they also require a higher fat diet.
The parrots at Parrot Paradise are fed 2 times a day. In the morning they are fed parrot salad which consists of calcium powder mix, carrot, pumpkin, sweet potato, green peas, corn, bean sprout, long beans etc. In the afternoon they are given 1 of 2 kinds of seed mix: Amazon mix (low fat) and Euro mix (high fat). Generally macaws get Euro mix and amazons and other parrots such as caiques get Amazon mix. Some aviaries get only 1 kind of seed but there are others that get a mix of both seed mixes because there are a mixed species exihibit, such as PP12 which has both Amazons and Macaws.
The birds are also fed nuts such as almonds & hazelnuts which are considered to be lower in fat content and walnuts & Brazil nuts, which are considered to have higher fat content. The kind of nuts fed to the birds also depends on the birds ability to crack the nut. To supplement their diet they are also fed with P19 bird pellets, from what I have noticed some of the birds do eat the pellets but others just throw it away as they are not considered as appetizing as seeds or the parrot salad.
Interesting aspects of learning
For me the most interesting aspect of this learning opportunity would be the whole experience of working at the back of house. These are the things that you can only experience yourself, no amount of reading up or learning about the theory will be able to prepare you for it. For example, we can read up about general behaviours of different species of birds, but when you interact with the birds and observe them for yourself you are truly able to understand why the animal behaves the way they do as well as you come to understand that each bird has its own personality and behavioural patterns.
The working environment is also something that I got to experience firsthand and how the keepers always put the well-being of the birds first. I suppose it takes a lot of commitment to dedicate your time to wholeheartedly take care of these animals, and it makes you truly appreciate what the keepers and staff do everyday to ensure that the birds are well cared for.
takeaway for life
My main takeaway from this WOW! experience would be the passion that all the keepers have towards their work. They came into this line of work because they knew they wanted to find a job that works with animals, thus even though the work they do can be extremely tiring, they have the passion and motivation to continue putting in their best effort to caring for the birds. I really respect them for having the commitment to pursuing their passion and I hope to have the same passion in pursuing my passion in my future career.
