Lorikeet Landing

I left the coast on Friday after a wonderful week cooling off by the ocean.  I decided to take a longer way home driving south a little way and then over the mountains toward Arizona.  On a quiet highway heading toward the mountains, I quite unexpectedly I passed a place called the San Diego Safari Park that is run by the San Diego Zoo.  I decided to stop and see what it was all about.  It is located on property that the zoo has owned for a long time and used as a place to do animal breeding and work with endangered species.  Sometime back, they decided to add a few more species and open it to the public.  The area where the large animals are living is quite huge.  So big in fact, they have to run trams around the perimeter so guests can see the animals.  The area was quite beautiful with rolling hills all around and the site of giraffes and other large animals off in the distance.

It was there that I found a special, large aviary filled with these frisky and colorful lorikeets.  Guests can go inside the aviary and the birds might land on your shoulder and whisper in your ear.  I've seen these birds on a couple of the blog sites from Australia but, never seen one in person before.  They are the most colorful bird I've ever seen.