Yes folks we all flocked (he he scuse the pun) to Jurong Bird Park.
Our 1st time back in something like 3 years - we worked out as we drove there.
Bloody hot day so first up let's go see the penguins - nice and cool in their place.
And babies - big fluffy babies.
Yep these are the babies above and below.
See the white fur - not quite so slick as a fully grown adult.
Real cute though - especially when the big lad below started Gangnam-Style.
Pink, pink, pink, pink - girls you and the flamingos should have called each other up this morning before you left - you visiting and them working.
"What you wearing today?"
"Well I was thinking of wearing pink!"
"You?"
"Yeah me too...Hmmmm OK alright then you wear pink today, I will tomorrow."
Had you have done so you would have avoided this MAJOR clash of ALL wearing pink today!!!
A Pelican
A Pele-can't
Asian buffet lunch - dining amongst the macaws.
Then you see something you really don't see every day.
A cockatoo called Pikasso that actually paints - yep the kids now have two personally signed Pikasso paintings (I kid you not) painted right there and then by the man, whoops cockatoo himself/herself??
So they get awarded the painting and the chance to have the macaw on their arm.
I would use a Pirates of the Caribbean joke or analogy - but I am saving that one for later.
Is it just me or has Ollie and the macaw been to the same barber - just that the macaw's is blue...
Another pelican.
Clearly his mate has gone well over the top with the face painting.
Remember that one of Amy I did at Mum's - Crikey they look like twins...
They almost don't look real do they.
I am pretty certain this used to claim to be the largest man-made waterfall in Asia, but now I think easily eclipsed by the one over the river from us at Gardens by the Bay. Anyways still pretty amazing.
What you're not seeing is the 1,000's of colourful tropical birds flitting back and forth through the sky.
Look at these purple ones.
Sorry to say pictures not really doing these justice.
This purple was shimmering in the sunlight.
I loved this little guy.
Just sitting there on the sign post minding his own business.
Maybe day dreaming a little...
Day dreaming a little...
Kidding me - this photo is not zoomed - I was literally about 4 inches away from him.
I then said; "BOO!!!"
"WTF!!!" said he...
Love this one - they called it the punk-rocker bird.
I wonder why?
Ahhhhh, look they even have pet rats in the bird park.
Yucks!
It's 'tram time' to rest those weary feet.
Off to the Lory Loft.
Lory are tropical birds almost parrot like.
But they only eat pollen and nectar - having these tongues with little brush like ends.
So armed with tubs of nectar we go a feeding, trying to encourage the little birds to come choose us.
Amy has first go and boom she is straight away.
In goes Ollie, and success.
He's reading Gerald Durrell books at the moment - very apt Mr Kennett.
Look at these little things - how cute are they.
Quite selective in who they choose, but family Kennett was nailing it compared to others there.
Daddy Doolittle up next.
Must be the shirt.
Perhaps they thought they were in the forests of home.
They seemed to like it, even jumping up on my hand to feed - cool.
Starting to build a crowd of on-lookers now.
This one is either pruning herself like a bird or she put too much deodorant on this morning.
What do they say - a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
How much is one worth on your shoulder???
Hold on, how much is two worth on your shoulder??
Not sure but I think Mary might be a little wary of these two - can't be 100% though.
What do you think?
OK OK they kissed and made up and she is now very happy with her new found friends!
But who is that staring from the hand rail.
Sort of minding his own business, but having a really good look at Mary's antics.
I'll go say hi.
I call this bird 'De'Niro'
"You talkin' to me...?"
"I said are you talkin' to me...?"
Defocus Ollie and focus on birdie.
I love this shot.
I imagine this is what the birds see when we're tempting them to come feed from our hands.
I'd be scared, wouldn't you - ha ha!
Ollie now trying trying to take his bird for a walk.
Actually he could take it for a drive as these birds are actually called Lory's.
Go figure.
A little bit of Hitchcock going on here do you think - albeit the 2013 version.
Check these little buggers out, I think the conversation is something along the lines of:
"Pssssst, psssst come here we need to discuss the plan..."
"I'll go get Gerard and the boys and meet you in 5 minutes at the feeding station."
"We plan to lull these stupid humans in to a false sense of security with our beautiful colours, cute faces and frolicking behaviour."
"When they are at their weakest point, we ATTACK!!!"
"Are you with me brother?"
Not too dissimilar from the original film right...
Nice one kids - really a zoo day this.
As we're in the bird park and the kids both have new Crocs - boom boom!!!
The next few are simply amazing how Mother Nature can get creative sometimes.
These are Birds of Paradise - you can see clearly why they've been called that.
And guess what.
The top one is the male and the dowdy brown one is the girl.
Yep time for the men to dress up and put on some slap - doesn't he look great.
This one was amazing - he started to put on some courtship dance, opening his wings and fluffing up all his feathers, stretching himself, all whilst letting out a really loud noise.
Either that or he going to the loo...?
Can you see this one.
I have tried to make it as clear as possible - tough when filming through very small cage bars.
Look at the yellow bit of his tail - can you see the very fine black lines, they are indeed feathers.
It was so so beautiful - and Jurong Bird Park has a first under it's belt, being the first to breed them in captivity. Just beautiful.
I bet they're happy.
Free food.
Free water.
Free sex.
Free flying.
Safe flying.
Or back to the wilds of Guinea and these lads hats - I'll give you one guess what they're made from...?
Zoos sometimes do indeed do good and protect.
Wonder if these guys invented Hush Puppies too.
After Amy lost her water bottle top from a moving tram, Daddy had to walk back a mile or so up hill to look for the bloody thing. He did not find it.
So on the mile walk back down the hill Daddy stopped off to take some pictures of some beeeeautiful birds in a very special aviary - clearly dedicated to colour.
Sometimes I wish I was a bird.
No no no not so I can have boobs - I mean because of like below.
I was sweating profusely from the walk to find the bottle top and then saw this lovely little blue chap splash in the water for a nice cool bath, lucky little thing!
I wish I was a bird - right about NOW!
This guy below was actually grabbing little twigs from the tree.
Clearly nesting time was in the air.
Perhaps why the little blue chap above had a quick bath before going home.
Look at this little one.
Stunning colours - truly stunning.
He may look asleep, but he certainly is not.
This little thing was staring at me through half-closed eyes as I photo'd him.
Back to the birds above - almost like he was waiting for me to make a move.
Well they do say; "What is dangerous and sits in trees?"
"A parrot with a machine gun!"
OK little birds all is forgiven I was just joking.
We had a lovely time taking in your beauty.
You all looked just amazing and family Kennett had a wonderful time.
Final photo - I was even getting the eye when I left.
And bloody hell they're big eyes!
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