Bird Kingdom facts for kids
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| Private | |
| Industry | Aviary |
| Founded | 2003 |
| Headquarters | |
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Area served
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United States and Canada |
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Number of employees
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20 |
Bird Kingdom is an amazing place in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, where you can see hundreds of birds! It's like a giant indoor jungle where birds fly freely. This special spot opened in May 2003. It's known as the largest free-flying indoor aviary in the whole world.
Bird Kingdom is huge, covering about 45,000 square feet. It's home to over 350 birds from places like Australia, South America, and Africa. You can also find some cool mammals, reptiles, and amphibians here. They are part of fun educational programs. People love Bird Kingdom so much that it was voted a top family attraction in Niagara Falls. It even joined the Trip Advisor Hall of Fame in 2016!
Contents
Explore Bird Kingdom's Amazing Areas
Discover the Small Bird Aviary
This part of Bird Kingdom is perfect for smaller birds. The Small Bird Aviary has more than fifty types of birds. Some of these birds are very rare or even endangered. This area also looks out over the Niagara Gorge. The gorge is a famous place where people love to watch birds. It's also a great spot for birds to build their nests.
Journey into the Night Jungle
Step into the Night Jungle to see animals that are active after dark. Here, you can find Egyptian Fruit Bats and owls. You might also spot other creatures of the night. They live among ancient-looking ruins, making it a mysterious place to explore.
Wander Through the Main Aviary
The Main Aviary is the biggest part of Bird Kingdom. It cost $16 million to build! This section is like a huge rainforest, covering 45,000 square feet. It's home to 350 birds, representing about 80 different kinds from all over the world. These birds live in a warm, tropical environment. There's even a 40-foot tall waterfall inside! Visitors can feed colorful lorikeets and explore the area on their own.
Visit the Unique Javanese House
Bird Kingdom has something very special: the only real Javanese nobleman's house in North America. This house was made by hand from solid teak wood. What's amazing is that it was built without using any nails! In the 1800s, only very important people, like noblemen, lived in houses like this. The front door of the house faces south, which people believed should face the sea. The detailed carvings on the roof show everyone that it belonged to a nobleman.
Bird Kingdom's History
The building where Bird Kingdom is now has a long history. In 1908, a company called Spirella Corset Company built a four-story concrete building there. By 1958, the company moved to a smaller place. That same year, Jacob Sherman bought the building. He owned the Niagara Falls Museum. Mr. Sherman made many changes to the building. He added a five-story viewing tower. He also moved 700,000 old artifacts into the building.
Later, it was discovered that the museum had once held the real mummy of King Ramesses I. But by the time this was found out, the museum was closed. The mummy had already been returned to Egypt. The Sherman family ran the museum until 1999. It became too expensive to take care of the building and all the artifacts. Most of the artifacts were sold or sent back to where they came from.
Larry Vann, who lived in the Niagara area, bought the museum building. Over the next few years, about $15 million was spent to fix up the building. A large new part was added to the south side of the old museum. In June 2003, the building opened again as Bird Kingdom at the Niagara Falls Aviary.
Gallery
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Blue-grey tanager,
Thraupis episcopus -
Collared finchbill,
Spizixos semitorques -
Victoria crowned pigeon,
Goura victoria -
Red-crested turaco,
Tauraco erythrolophus -
Red-cheeked cordon-bleu,
Uraeginthus bengalus -
Hybrid white-cheeked turaco x red-crested turaco,
Tauraco leucotis
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