Environmental Enrichment - Birds

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Bird Enrichment May 2009

Keas, and some of our other parrot species, are given fruity ice lollies once or twice a month, which is a novel feeding enrichment, and encourages more active feeding, as it takes them longer to retrieve the fruit. They can chip away at the ice lolly, or if they are not that interest they can retrieve the fruit slowly as the ice lolly melts. We hang the ice lollies up from branches too which encourages suspended feeding, which means they have to work harder to reach the food, often hanging from other branches to peck at it. It is a very popular enrichment with the parrots.

Another novel feeding enrichment we do about once a week is with our Turaco species, and this is to spike the fruit from their daily diet whole or in large pieces around the enclosure rather than it being chopped and fed in a dish. This is a more natural way of feeding and increases their feeding activity as it takes them longer to eat the fruit than when it is chopped up for them.

The photos below show one of our Lady Ross turaco with some spiked apple.
      

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