A bite-sized update 😉
Spoonie ‘Pink Dark Green’ was so distracted by the fruit flies he didn’t even notice he was being filmed until the very last moment!
During the breeding season we increase the amount of live insects fed to the captive Spoonies to replicate the massive hatch off of insects they would naturally encounter on the breeding grounds in the far east of northern Russia. We hope this will prompt the captive birds to breed – if there’s plenty food around to feed potential chicks, might lead to the birds producing chicks! At the Spoonie facility we culture flightless fruit flies. As you can see the birds enjoy these A LOT!
Fruit fly culture station. Photo by Jodie Clements.
They also receive cultured black crickets. These are spread about the aviary to encourage foraging and are nutritious tasty snacks to find throughout the day.
Hungry hungry Spoonie. Photo by Jodie Clements.
As well as the cultured insects we provide, the open and airy facility allows plenty of spiders, flies and moths into the aviaries for them to forage on. Some perhaps a little too big to tackle…
A Poplar Hawkmoth that recently made its way into the facility. Photo by Jodie Clements.
We have increased the summer season for the Spoonies by manipulating their photo period in hope there is still a chance they breed. This is also necessary due to the conflict between the current day length in the UK and the day length the wild Spoonies experience on their way back to the wintering sites. Stay tuned for more updates!
