Feathered feature: ABQ BioPark Zoo set to open Lorikeet Experience habitat

Things have really gone to the birds at the ABQ BioPark Zoo.

Visitors will soon be able to visit with avians from the Land Down Under at the Australian Lorikeet Experience habitat. There, guests will be able to meander through a winding path that gets them up close and personal with 29 birds from Australia. The exhibit features red lorys, rainbow lorikeets, coconut lorikeets, blue-faced honeyeaters and a laughing kookaburra.

“For the past six weeks or so, we’ve been allowing staff to come in here and acclimate the birds to a large group of visitors just for their well-being and get them accustomed to people,” said Karen Waterfall, ABQ BioPark bird curator. “We’re hoping when people come to the Lorikeet Experience they’ll be able to have birds all around them and, if they’re lucky enough, they might even get to feed one.”

An opening date for the Lorikeet Experience exhibit is expected to be announced soon, though some lucky zoogoers were invited for a sneak peek.

Brandon Headley, his wife, Emily, and their daughters Tinsley, 9, and Evelyn, 6, were some of the first guests to tour the exhibit. The Oklahoma City family is vacationing in Albuquerque.

Brandon Headley said he and his family have been to the BioPark Zoo before and were excited to be invited to tour the new exhibit.

“We just decided to come to the zoo and they told us there is a new exhibit that we could go through and check it out,” he said. “The girls have been having fun feeding the lorikeets, and we’ve enjoyed the rest of the zoo, too, the penguins and polar bears and everything.”

Tinsley Headley said her favorite part of the new exhibit was being able to feed the birds. She added her favorite of the colorful, winged friends was the rainbow lorikeet.

Her sister, Evelyn, gave the exhibit her approval and enjoyed the experience. “When a bird comes to you and gets some food,” she exclaimed was the favorite part of her visit.

And additions to the exhibit are coming soon.

“We actually have a couple pairs,” Waterfall said. “We have a couple chicks right now in the back that will make their way to exhibit in a couple months or so and we have another pair of eggs. So yeah, we’ll have some new birds in here.”

In other zoo baby news, Lucy the ocelot welcomed a kitten this month. She and her newborn are nursing and bonding behind the scenes.

And Nia Lewa, a 21-year-old member of the endangered western lowland gorilla species, continues to bond with her firstborn, who was welcomed into the world in mid-June. The newborn girl has been named Gila by her zookeepers in honor of the Gila Wilderness in southern New Mexico.