Bali Bird Park

Last night we had a great meal at an Italian restaurant, although we may have eaten too much. The portions were much bigger than we thought. No worries, we had left over pizza the next day. After dinner Catheleen and I wandered around. I don't know how many Hindu temples there are here but they are everywhere. It's an interesting mix to see restaurants and shops squeezed in on the street between temples. We definitely had the feeling that we were far from home, but yet we had a sense of relaxation.

Today we visited the Bali Bird Park. It was an excellent day where we saw up to 250 species of tropical birds from Indonesia and around the world. Many of the birds we visually stunning with such brightly coloured feathers. But the best thing about this place was the close interaction we had with the birds. Something I suspect would not be possible in Canada for health and safety concerns. I think the locals are less fussed about that here.

Upon arrival we had a chance to hold some of the macaws and to pet the cockatoos, who liked a good scratch behind the neck. Catheleen was instructed by one white cockatoo, who pointed with its claw, to pet a little to the left. Some of the birds were allowed to roam free throughout the park, including peacocks and crowned herons, which looked like they had golden spikes on their heads. We had lunch in an open air restaurant when another demonstration started up. Here we had large birds flying within inches of our heads. Very exciting but I'm glad we had finished lunch before the demo started.

Later a peacock wandered into the restaurant and we had a good laugh as it tried to get at a french fry from under the table where two young Japanese ladies were sitting. Later on we saw a bird of prey demonstration, where owls, hawks, and large eagles swooped around us. My favourite part was seeing a flock of four South American Macaws, which flew around and up above, back and forth, in perfect formation.

The kids were big on volunteering for the demonstrations. At lunchtime John held out his arm while a large horn billed bird flew in from its handler who was far away to land on John's arm. John didn't get much warning about what was going to happen, so he found it pretty startling to have this large bird fly straight at him to land on his outstretched arm. Elizabeth volunteered at the end of our day for a bird of prey demonstration. She also didn't know what was going to happen to her. A lady before her had volunteered to hold a tray above her head while the handlers dropped pieces of meat on the tray one at a time while we watched Asian eagles with tan bodies and white heads swoop in quickly to scoop up the meat off the try with their claws. The announcer then said for the next demo that there would be no tray. Elizabeth was picked from the audience. She happily went along with it but was feeling much trepidation when the handler dropped a piece of meat on her head. Quickly an eagle swooped down and plucked the meat off Elizabeth's head. A bit scary for her but it turned out okay.