Birds of a Feather Flock Together

Connor is working on getting his Bear Badge in Cub Scouts right now.   He only has a few more requirements left. One of them was to visit a zoo, aviary, aquarium, etc. in order to learn about different kinds of animals.  We had never been to Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake, so we decided to go there one evening last week.  We had no clue what to expect, and--to be honest with you--my expectations were not very high.  But, we absolutely loved it & had a great time.  The aviary takes in injured birds that can no longer fend for themselves in the wild & gives them a nice home for the rest of their lives.  So, I guess it's kind of the bird version of a nursing home?  Anyway, it was a lot bigger than I thought it would be & there were lots of cool birds & exhibits to look at.  First we stopped at The Rare Bird Exhibit...

Not sure what the bird behind Cohen in this picture is called, but what is up with this kid & his random poses he does for the camera lately?

Here are the boys with a talking parrot we found & fell in love with.  Connor & Cohen apparently wanted to show how shocked they were to meet a talking parrot...

Vivvie couldn't get enough of the birds.  Here she is pointing at a couple of vultures...

The boys couldn't take their eyes off these bald eagles.  Neither could we...

There was no cage over the top of them.  In fact, many of the enclosures were totally open.  Because many of the birds are injured & can't fly, they don't have to put a top on their enclosures.  It was very cool & almost made it feel like they were still (sort of) in the wild...

We were fans of these birds.  They were very pretty & walked with quite the little strut too...

The aviary had several places where you could actually walk into an enclosed area so that you were right there with the birds.  There were all sorts of small birds flying through this enclosure & they let the boys get really close to them too...

There were also several peacocks just roaming the grounds.  The boys walked right up to one & it was calm as could be around them.  Unfortunately, my phone had died at that point so I didn't get a picture of it.  I did get a pictures of one peacock that was taking a little snooze on top of one of the buildings...

They also had my favorite birds there--Flamingos...

When I was in 1st grade, we were given the assignment to do a research paper on an animal or bird that our teacher assigned to us.  My assignment was the flamingo & I have loved them ever since!  I'm pretty sure the last time I saw a flamingo in person was at the San Diego Zoo when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade.  We don't run into flamingos often here in Utah.  Go figure?!?  So, I was pretty excited to see them.  Viv really liked them too.  They are the prettiest birds ever.

So, that was our trip to Tracy Aviary.  We absolutely loved it!  And--bonus--it was completely F-R-E-E!  Pass of All Pass holders get in free to the aviary on Monday evenings.  If you haven't been there yet, you must go. The kiddos (and parents) absolutely loved it!  --Lindsay