If you’re trying to squeeze in more antioxidants and live a healthy lifestyle, why not take a leaf out of the book of Healesville Sanctuary’s zookeepers?
The team is channelling their inner MasterChef by adding non-cultivated blueberries and raspberry crumble to fruit salad for their native birds, and it’s been a culinary hit.
Healesville Sanctuary bird coordinator Tammika Stasiak said the birds are going bonkers for berries.
“At this time of year, there’s loads of berries in the wild and we can provide those for the birds,” Mrs Stasiak said.
“The Topknot Pigeons have huge beaks which means they can down all different kinds of berries easily. As a northern bird from warmer climates, they are exposed to more tropical fruit and they fall face-first into the fruity mix.
“Whereas Superb Parrots are pickier and more intrigued by the little berries. They pick out the raspberry crumble because it mimics what they would find in the wild.”
By adding more variety to the fruit salad this improves the diet, and in turn the welfare of the animals in our care.
In the wild animals are exposed to many options in their diet, so we strive to provide as much variety as possible.
The mix changes from day to day, including honeydew melon, rock melon, apple, pear, paw paw, kiwi, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, peas, corn, carrot and currants.
“From a nutrition point of view, the more change and variety that you can make in their diet, the more that they can get out of it,” Mrs Stasiak said.
“We used to chop all the fruit into tiny pieces by hand. But now we have this amazing machine that does it for us. So, it’s easy and comes out looking fresh.”
Each day four kilos of fruit are provided to the birds across the Sanctuary.
12 native bird species at the Sanctuary are chowing down on the fruit mix as part of their diet.
Visitors can identify the Superb Parrot by their green and yellow feathers with a spot of red on their neck.
The Topknot Pigeons are larger than your average pigeon and have kooky brown feather on the top of their head that look like a 1950’s Elvis Presley hairstyle.
