Bird keeper

Grey Fisher Taronga Zoo

The birds are on performanceenhancing diets

“They live in flocks but they each get their own diets, because in any group you always have that one who eats a little more – like me with pizza at parties – so I want to make sure that doesn’t happen with these guys. They’re like athletes, if you’re underweight or overweight, you’re not gonna perform at your best.”

Carnivorous birds are just like us

“Most of them eat mice, which the zoo breeds then culls, and freezes them and puts them in bags. And they also get day-old chicks, which are by-products of the human food industry. And we’ll use some quail as well, which also comes from the human food industry. Other than the mice, everything is human quality. The mice would be too if we ate mice, but we tend not to.”

Birds have heaps more tricks than those show-offs, the seals

“Seal trainers have it easy because seals do things we recognise, they stick out their tongues and wave. Basically, ‘I see myself in that animal and that makes me enjoy that animal.’ Birds aren’t like that. In the old days, bird shows were talking parrots and birds on bicycles but [now] we showcase what they do naturally. There’s no party tricks. We have a black-breasted buzzard that opens emu eggs. They do that in the wild. Most people would never see that.”

The zoo’s birds are free to leave

“One of the biggest arguments against zoos is that people don’t like seeing animals in captivity. When you come to one of our shows, you’ll see our animals are not, they can leave anytime they want. Our birds fly – depending on the weather conditions – sometimes, so high they’re just a speck in the sky. It’s true freedom, but it’s still in a zoo.”

Owls are superheroes. And monsters

“They have nighttime eyesight, super flexibility in their necks, they’ve got the strongest feet of any raptor, they’ve got the most powerful hearing of almost any predator. I’ve just finished raising barn owls and I’m training them for shows. Their names are Banshee and Wraith – because another name for a barn owl is ghost owl. They reckon the legend of Banshees in Ireland originated when people saw barn owls. Ghost owls fly silently, have a white belly, and they have a really harsh screech. Imagine these white things gliding silently at night, screeching – it’s easy to see why people might think it’s a screaming spirit.”