Birdbrains

I had bought three small bags of seeds and pellets to feed the kangaroos and the wallabies, but the former were nowhere to be seen and the latter would flee as soon as I approached them. So I settled for stuffing the face of the emus. The emu is the smaller, dumber Aussie cousin of the African ostrich and when I'd encountered them in the wild, they would flee like I was satan out to get them; I've never seen a bird so jumpy.

However, the emus in the park were quite sedate and easygoing. They, like the ducks, would immediately recognize the paper bags as food and would approach you without fear. One of them even pecked quite hard at a bag, causing me to drop it and then he proceeded to kill that thing dead, looking for seeds.

All pics here.

Diiiiieeee!


Diiiiiiiieeeee I say!




Eventually, the emus started hanging around the entrance to pester tourists for food.


Impeccable footwork.


Ready for her close-up.


The flamingos were herded up to be indoors, as it was getting too cold for them outside. Before they did this, the gameskeepers had to shoo off the emus, as the flamingos were terrified of them.


Possibly the most ridiculous looking birds ever.


The last ones disappearing inside.


I can haz cheeseburger? One of several ducks that stuffed face with my bags of pellets and seeds. They would easily take food from my hand. I had no problems with the ducks doing this, as their beaks are rounded but the emus have pretty sharp beaks.