Papegaaienpark Veldhoven

The Large Special Aviaries

Sometimes we are offered materials out of which we can build “special aviaries”. Now and then we are forced to build special aviaries for species of birds that can’t cohabitate with other birds.

Here follow a number of examples of these special aviaries:

The Kea Aviary (Nestor notabilis)

In recent years we have demolished many of the old buildings and replaced them by new aviaries and birdhouses. In October 2002 we opened a new addition in the middle of the park: the Kea aviary.

As you can see in the pictures we succeeded in giving our inhabitants a spacious abode of 1.000 m3 / 35,315 ft3 of flying joy! The aviary has been divided into two spacious cages. One of them houses our rare couple of New Zealand Keas.

The other cage of this magnificent aviary houses a colourful collection of exotic birds: a number of Palm Cockatoos (Probosciger)! What you see are the Red-tailed Black Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus banksii banksii) and White-tailed Black Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus baudinii).

Around this aviary toys and a sandpit have been arranged for our little ones. For senior visitors we have created a possibility to rest with a good view of the aviary.

The “Dome” Aviary

It lay on the scrapheap of the exhibition and building firm of Gielissen and N.O.P. (the Dutch Foundation for the Refuge and Care of Parrots) had good use for it. The Dome, with a diameter of 6 meters/20 ft, found its place behind the new Giant Flight aviary. Wire gauze was put over it and flight areas of 12 metres/40 ft. each were added. The end of one flight area was closed off with a heated birdhouse or nighthouse.

The planting in and around the aviary was donated by a grower, who ended his nursery. He donated his stock of hundreds of plants to the N.O.P. On 12 July 1997 the new occupants could be moved in: 6 Military Macaws (Ara militaris militaris), 2 Green-winged Macaws (Ara chloropterus), 2 Sulphur-crested cockatoos (Cacatua sulphurea sulphurea) and 2 Patagonian Conures (Cyanoliseus patagonus patagonus).

It all looks very pretty and this new aviary certainly is worth a visit.

The largest number of parrots present within the N.O.P. is the African or Congo Grey Parrots. Particularly loved because they can easily be domesticated and in general they are good imitators, “talkers”. That is why it is the most bought parrot. But alas, they do not always meet the buyer’s wishes, like so many other parrots. They can be very noisy, create a great mess, gnaw everything to bits and be aggressive to other people. Because it is one of the most sold parrots and therefore the most abandoned bird, this group grows enormously. This is one more reason to pay extra attention to this group.

In their original habitat, Central Africa, they always live in large groups at the forest’s edge. So they are social birds. This was one more reason to build an enormous aviary to accommodate the complete colony of African Grey Parrots.

Since October 1999 this aviary can be found between the Dome Aviary and the small pond, hidden under the trees. It stands to reason that they have a heated birdhouse and the aviary has been furnished in such a way that they have the time of their life. Thanks to this birdhouse they need not be transferred to a winter shelter.

The Lovebird Aviary

In August 1998 two large aviaries for our parakeets and agapornises were opened. These tiny parrots love to huddle together and prefer to live close together in large groups.

In these aviaries they can play about and fly around to their heart’s content.

The “Spider”

Indeed in August 1997 we were offered a spider. Luckily it was not a live one, but a species with six steel legs and VW-beetle as a body. It’s the copy of an artifact somewhere in the United States of America.

It first served as an eye catcher at the entrance of the ‘Dynamo Open Air’ Rock festival in Eindhoven, later on it was moved to Bladel, where it gave everyone the shivers for week a during the summer festival. After another stop at airbase “Welschap” this monstrosity ended up in the N.O.P.

The “Spider” has become a magnificent aviary 6.5 metres/21 ft high with a diameter of 21 metres/ 69 ft.