Marsh aviary for bird park
UMGENI River Bird Park is going green – with a newlylaunched marsh aviary and a new reed filtration bed, they’ve created a unique mini ecosystem that is usually found in the natural environment.
And their new system will not only mean new bird species being introduced into the park, but it will save the park water and energy costs in the long term.
The revamped marsh aviary was launched yesterday, with several new species for the public to see.
The birds were getting used to their revamped “marsh” home, said education manager Grant Aggett-Cox.
“We’ve wanted to revamp the area for a long time, but waited until the breeding season was over so we wouldn’t disturb the baby birds. The revamp started in February, so it’s taken us a few months, but we are now proud to unveil our marsh aviary which is now the largest walk-through aviary in the park,” said Aggett-Cox.
The aviary features new ponds for the birds to frolic in, and new vegetation that once grown will provide a mini forest-type environment. There are 1 000 new plants in the aviary.
By the end of the year, the bird park will feature 20 new species such as the moor hen, purple swamp hen, black winged red bishops and Burchell’s coucal.
“We will introduce them later as those birds like shelter and we need the new plants and shrubs to grow a little more to be able to provide shelter in the aviary,” said Aggett-Cox.
Most of the new aviary comprises elements from the old aviary.
Green
“We are very conscious of being green and not being wasteful and encourage conservation, so we’ve reused the wood, the boulders, the rocks and the net from the old aviary,” he said.
Adjacent to the marsh aviary is the reed filtration bed.
“Previously, we used to pump the ponds two or three times a week, which was a lot of fresh water to use. But there was an area adjacent to the marsh aviary that was not used for anything specific, so we consulted an expert and we came up with the design of the natural filter to be able to feed clean water into our ponds,” said Aggett-Cox.
The filtration bed sits on a clay bed, which, he said, made the process of shaping the ground much easier.
“When the water is flowing, it will feed into the marsh aviary. The reeds still have to grow more, but they will be ready when the summer rains come,” he said.
Park manager Werner Marais said they hoped that the public would learn about water conservation as well, when they came to see the birds.