Feed a Parakeet

Following a summer Australian theme, Iowa’s Blank Park Zoo announced today the opening of its new parakeet feeding experience, Budgie Bog In.

The outdoor aviary features around 250 parakeets, also known as budgies. For $1, guests enter the aviary with a bird feed stick and offer it to the birds. Birds will eat the seed right off the stick.

“It is about as up close and personal as one can get to a bird. Sometimes one or more parakeets will land on a guest’s hand while the birds enjoy their meal,” said Mark Vukovich, Blank Park Zoo CEO. “Many people have seen parakeets as someone’s pet, however this exhibit allows you to go inside and experience a one of a kind event.”

The seed mix on the feeding sticks is a nutritionally complete diet for the birds, making it not only a fun experience for Zoo guests but a healthy meal for the parakeets.

The term Bog In is an Australian slang term for “chow down, to eat with enthusiasm.”

The Blank Park Zoo has added and expanded its public animal feeding opportunities in the last few years. Five years ago, the Zoo allowed visitors to feed the giraffe and four years ago the Zoo expanded its animal contact area with more animals for visitors to feed. Last year the Zoo opened a new giraffe feeding deck that allows visitors to feed the giraffe in their exhibit. Later this summer, the Zoo hopes to offer an ostrich feeding opportunity.

The Zoo recently announced a baby boom of sorts that includes seven wallaby joeys, a baby camel, eight baby goats, four prairie dog pups and a baby penguin.

More about Parakeets:

The Budgerigar, often called a budgie or parakeet, is a small parrot native to the drier parts of Australia. A small long-tailed predominantly green and yellow bird with black scalloped markings on the wings and shoulders in the wild, the Budgerigar has been bred extensively with a profusion of color forms resulting. Thus, aviary birds may be blue and white, all yellow, all white, or various other combinations.

Budgerigars are nomadic birds found in open habitats, primarily in scrubland, open woodlands and grasslands. The birds are normally found in small flocks, but can form very large flocks under favorable conditions.  Movement of the flocks is tied to the availability of food and water. They feed on the seeds of spinifex, grass, weeds and sometimes ripening wheat.

It is widely acknowledged as the most common pet parrot in the world and possibly the most common cage bird. The budgerigar has been bred in captivity since the 1850s.