Bird Kingdom

08/22/2025

08/20/2025

Thor, just wanted to stop in and say Hi!

08/17/2025

Being a keeper isn't just about playing with the animals. Our day starts at 7:00 AM, which is basically the crack of dawn in zookeeper time. While most people are still deciding between oat milk or almond milk, we’re already knee-deep in bird food and trying to convince a tortoise that lettuce is, in fact, delicious.

Here we work mostly with birds, and the occasional feathered diva who insists on singing off-key while we clean her perch. But our facility cares for a wide variety of animals. It’s like Noah’s Ark, but with more paperwork and fewer rainbows.

Feeding time is a culinary adventure. Birds get gourmet pellet blends and fresh fruit platters that would put a brunch buffet to shame. And the skunk? Let’s just say he eats better than I do on most weekdays.

Enrichment is a big part of our day—because even a tarantula deserves a little excitement, hiding snacks in tortoise habitats to encourage foraging, and setting up obstacle courses for a skunk who thinks he's an Olympic athlete.

Of course, not every moment is magical. Sometimes a bird dive-bombs your head because you wore the “wrong colour.” Sometimes you realize your lunch smells suspiciously like skunk kibble. But even on the messiest days, it’s worth it.

Because being a zookeeper isn’t just about feeding animals or scrubbing enclosures. It’s about building trust—with creatures who don’t speak our language, and with people who are learning to love them. It’s about sparking curiosity, creating memories, and occasionally dodging flying p**p with ninja-like reflexes.

So next time you visit a zoo, know that behind every clean habitat and happy animal is a keeper who’s probably been up since sunrise, smells faintly of reptile, and wouldn’t trade this life for anything.

08/15/2025

Happy National Honey Bee Day—Let’s give it up for the fuzzy little miracle workers buzzing through our gardens! 🌻🍯

Without honey bees, your breakfast smoothie would be sad, your flower beds would be wilted, and your honey toast… well, toastless. These pollinating powerhouses keep 1 out of every 3 bites of food on your plate. Not bad for an insect that weighs less than a paperclip, right?

Fun facts to sweeten your day:

A single honey bee visits up to 5,000 flowers in a day. It's like CrossFit, but pollen-flavoured.

Bees communicate through waggle dancing—basically, GPS with more booty-shaking.

The queen bee lays up to 2,000 eggs daily. Now that’s a busy mom!

Honey never spoils. Archaeologists have found 3,000-year-old honey in Egyptian tombs—and yes, it’s technically still edible (although maybe leave that to the ancient food bloggers).

How you can help:

Plant bee-friendly flowers like lavender, sunflowers, and wildflowers.

Skip the nasty pesticides—bees hate chemical drama.

Support your local beekeeper like they're the Beyoncé of bugs.

Let’s keep their hive alive with love and laughter! 🐝💛

08/13/2025

We have tried to tell them that there are many other roosting spots available...but they just don't seem to believe us.

I mean, it does look pretty comfortable.

08/06/2025

That awkward moment when your keeper doesn't say, "Of course you can have every treat I have, Jojo...so now you have to rethink your whole plan.

08/04/2025

The Red Rump Parrot.

08/02/2025

Howard the Tanimbar Corella is doing quite well working on one with his trainer! He is coming further and further every day. Making it even closer to coming out into our Base Camp room and meeting all of our amazing guests!

He is quite shy, so he is taking things slow and working on his time, which is totally fine by us. Hopefully, he will be out soon and able to say hi to everyone!

07/31/2025

Behold the newest member of the Bird Kingdom flock, Gandalf: the 33-year-old Tawny Frogmouth, keeper of the perch, silent judge of your life choices, and part-time cloud enthusiast.

He’s seen more moons than most of us have seen Netflix originals, and still manages to look both eternally wise and mildly displeased about it.

Gandalf enjoys:

Roosting like a pro in bizarre yoga poses

Side-eyeing guests with the intensity of a Shakespearean villain

Delivering ancient bird wisdom, mostly in the form of loud "mehs" at sunrise

He doesn’t hoot. He murmurs spells of mild disapproval.

He doesn’t fly. He glides judgmentally.

Some say he’s just a bird. Those people have never locked eyes with Gandalf and felt the weight of their past decisions.

We invite everyone to come and meet Gandalf in all his glory! Every day around 12:00 PM, a trainer can be found with him, feeding him and talking about him and his species.

See you soon!

07/25/2025

Cute video from our friends at Niagara Escarpment Views. They do some amazing work. Please feel free to check them out!

07/19/2025

I think Jojo is trying to tell you a secret...