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SALT LAKE CITY — Some of Tracy Aviary’s more popular and colorful creatures are moving on to another home after about a decade in Utah, as another colorful species prepares to make a comeback.
Tracy Aviary’s sun conures at the Amazon Adventure exhibit will be transferred to a zoo in Saginaw, Michigan, on Wednesday, officials said. The conures, which are native to the Amazon rainforest, were a key feature of the aviary’s exhibit. They became a popular attraction as guests were allowed to have the birds eat food from their hands.
The aviary will instead bring in a flock of rainbow lorikeets as the aviary explores a new name for the exhibit, said Tim Brown, president and CEO of Tracy Aviary. The changes were made in coordination with other zoos that bounce back and forth different species with each other, based on availability and ability to treat different animal species.
“The sun conures served us really well,” Brown said. “They’re very unique; and the population, over the past decade, has gotten a little bit smaller and a little bit older, so we’re giving them a good opportunity to ride out the rest of their lives in another exhibit at another (Association of Zoos & Aquariums) zoo and we can bring in another species.”
The conures will remain on display at the exhibit through Tuesday and 2:15 p.m. It's the last chance visitors will have at feeding the birds.
Whereas sun conures are native to the Amazon, rainbow lorikeets are native to Australia. According to BirdLife Australia, the species are found in “a wide range of treed habitats including rainforest and woodlands, as well as in well-treed urban areas.” The birds eat mostly the flowers of shrubs or ingest nectar and pollen, but also eat fruits, seeds and insects.
Rainbow lorikeets aren’t exactly a new species for the aviary. Brown said the aviary had the bird species there before they brought in sun conures. Much like the sun conures, guests will be able to feed the lorikeets; however, that won’t be until sometime in spring 2020 after the birds have adjusted to their new habitat. The exhibit area will also be closed for renovations during the winter. Once it does reopen, it will be open throughout the day.
Brown said he hopes when guests get a chance to interact with rainbow lorikeets it will help them care about the species and other species across nature, and thus inspire them to find ways to help conservation.
“We try to make an impression on guests that stuns them almost, that they say ‘My goodness, I never knew a wild animal would have this kind of coloration. I can’t believe nature can produce those kinds of colors,’” he said. “That creates that ‘aha’ moment that birds are cool.”
