It's been a busy week here at the park with more than 500 kids coming through for a function on Wednesday and Thursday. Thankfully the weather held out so they were able to have a full day of fun at the park. The weather though hasn't stopped us from working or taking a break and there has been much going on behind the scenes to prepare the park for the Christmas season. Cages are being renovated, new birds are going on display, babies are popping out everywhere and the staff are working harder than ever to ensure our visitors have the best experience possible. The new cycle lane in Riverside Road is now almost complete and this will also bring in additional visitors. We are looking at a discounted entry fee for cyclists to encourage more people to not only visit us, but also make use of this new addition and reduce their carbon footprint. 

We are now up and running with our You Tube and Twitter pages and are trying to post new content here every week. The Facebook page also continues to grow and again new content will be added every week. The new website has also been given the go-ahead and this will hopefully be up and running in the next couple of weeks. We will have 2 websites: www.umgeniriverbirdpark.co.za and www.urbp.co.za. Both sites will be identical and content will be updated every month. That's it for now. Thanks for reading and catch up with us again next week for more news.

Breeding Season is upon us

With all the rain we have had recently we have had a delayed start to the breeding season. Things look like they are picking up now though and we have got some beautiful new arrivals...these include  Guira Cuckoos, Green-naped Lorikeet, Perfect Lorikeet, Chinese Painted Quail, Ringneck Pheasant, Scarlet Ibis and Eclectus Parrot. After not breeding for the past 3 years, our Moluccan Cockatoo laid 2 eggs. These eggs have been removed as she has a habit of breaking them and they are currently in our incubators. One is fertile and we are still waiting to see if the second is as well. Our Nicobar Pigeons have also been attempting to breed for the first time in 2 years but their first clutch of eggs were infertile. It is still early though so hopefully they will get it right as the breeding season progresses. The picture we added is o the Nicobar Pigeon and you can see how amazing they look...nothing like a normal pigeon. They are also the closest living relative of the Dodo so really special to have.

New Beginnings

After much deliberation and requests from members of the public about regular updates on news from the park, we have now created this blog. In addition to our existing Facebook page, we now have Twitter and You Tube accounts and now this blog. To keep them all updated as often as we would like is going to take some effort but we aim to please so all I ask is that you are patient and give us some time to get this all together. Our entire Education and Marketing team consists of one person...me as we don't have the budget for more staff so I will try my best to keep it all together. Regards Grant