KL Bird Park & Dandenong Birds, Australia

did you know that our own kuala lumpur bird park is the world’s LARGEST free-flight walk-in *aviary? i didn’t, and i am very impressed! especially after looking at the wonderfully colorful pictures of my youngest sister azot during her recent visit to kl bird park. she went with her other half faiz, and brought along my niece cuya.

here i am, at the land of the world’s tallest building, and the world’s biggest mall, and the world’s highest fountain – when back home, we have the world’s largest bird park!

*an aviary is a large enclosure for confining birds. unlike cages, aviaries allow birds a larger living space where they can fly; hence, aviaries are also sometimes known as flight cages. aviaries often contain plants and shrubbery to simulate a natural environment. ~wikipedia

 

that means, when you walk into the kl bird park, you’re walking into the largest cage in the world! the birds live, fly, and play in their natural habitat, simulated in this large aviary.

it’s somewhat a ‘cage’ per-se, but the natural habitat that they ‘built’ for these birds are so good and real, that researchers often choose this bird park to study behavioral pattern of birds!

 

this is my favorite picture. azot surrounded by brightly colored birds! even on her head! super cute!

 

fun facts on kl bird park :

• open in 1991
• it’s adjacent to lake gardens
• there are over 3000 birds from 200 species!
• 90% local birds, and the rest imported

 

cuya with uncle faiz feeding the ‘red lory’ an indonesian bird

 

i was so happy seeing cuya in all those picture with her maksu and err, (bakal paksu ke?), but a bit sad that she didn’t wait for her dubai cousins! khaleef would absolutely LOVE the freely flying birds, kahfi would sure go bonkers speeding around chasing unsuspecting birds, while kazim would definitely be speechless, in awe of the natural wonders around him.

when we come back to malaysia, we’re taking a trip here! proud to be malaysians!!! visit kl bird park official site for more information.

 

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my fellow malaysian melbournians are surely familiar with this nature spot in victoria! dandenong ranges national park!

the picture below is me hand-feeding one of the wild birds at the dandenong ranges. this bird is called ‘the great aussie galah’ or ‘rose-breasted cockatoo’, memang merata kat australia. this is a trip with abah and my youngest sister azi when i was in melbourne for my masters.

these are birds IN THE WILD, but they are really unusually tame!

 

me @ dandenong, feb 2004

 

things to do in dandenong :

• here you could hand-feed native birds surrounded by a canopy of tall eucalyptus trees
• there are tables nearby where you can enjoy a picnic amidst cooing of parrots and the smell of fresh greeneries
• a lot of walking tracks to enjoy the cool, fresh nature and out in the wild
• take a ride of the famous historical ‘puffing billy’ train!

 

me & the msia hall melbourne girls having a picnic @ dandenong after a trip to tulip farm

 

this picture above was taken during my 2nd trip to the dandenong ranges with gal pals from malaysia hall melbourne; that’s me in pink, nurin, titi (black tudung), behind her is kak dayang, liyana (pink tudung) and kak laily (black jacket).

if i’m not mistaken it was my turn to cook for the team that day with my cooking partner, right dolah? *wink* i remember because our cooking day is always on weekends! i think we made fried rice with fried chicken. nyum.

 

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aussie parrots and cockatoos are so beautiful, but you can see that our kuala lumpur bird park has fantastic-looking parrots as well kan?

here in dubai, you can enjoy a different kind of bird – birds of prey, most famous is of course, the iconic falcon. falconry (the sport of training falcons) is big here in the UAE, and there are birds-of-prey shows available. try checking out here. haha. and if you’re lucky, you get to have a falcon perching on your arm when you visit the historical bastakiya.

 

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speaking of birds, there’s one perching on my balcony now. time to throw some old bread crumbs so that they keep coming…