hold hands with the handler while Grover sits on your extended arm. Grover’s handler was a woman who also had short brown hair & glasses so Grover liked sitting on my arm & didn’t want to step off. It took a little persuasion to get Grover back on his stand.

There is also a “jungle room” in the Center, where different parrots are free to fly around in a natural setting. They had everything from budgies up to red macaws. There was a wooden walkway with filament line that looked a lot like fishing line strung around the walkway to act as bars. It’s not very effective keeping the birds in—while we were in there I saw several of the smaller birds slip between the bars & fly across the walkway to the other side of the room.

  that day taking advantage of the free food. They have some interactive exhibits about wild birds for the kids—and a few cages with guinea pigs and iguanas. Kaytee has exhibits to cover all their products.

The parrot section is the most popular attraction.  The Center has an incubator room for hand-raising young parrots. We weren’t there at the right time of day to see the feeding sessions.

  They warn visitors about being careful opening the door so birds don’t escape.

They also have exhibits on Kaytee’s funding of research on endangered parrots in the rain forest—Zico the hyacinth macaw is part of their research program. Naturally the gift shop had Kaytee products to buy in addition to bird clocks, beanies, & other kitsch. I got some of their “healthy bits” which were a big hit with

They also have parrots that visitors can interact with—a blue & gold macaw, an African Grey, a female eclectus, and two smaller green parrots that I’m not sure of. They also had a hyacinth macaw kept separately since he didn’t like to be handled. Reggie the cockatoo was also in residence, but he likes to chew on your watch, jewelry, or ears so he was in solitary confinement in a cage. He’s quite the escape artist so he was securely locked in, but when my brother started talking to him old Reg made it clear he wanted to come out & play.

The birds have handlers they’re comfortable with, who give little talks about each bird & let brave visitors hold a bird on your arm very briefly. They’re careful to tell you to keep your elbow close to your body so the bird doesn’t climb up your arm & start chewing on your ear. After hearing so much about hollow bird bones I was surprised how heavy the large parrots are. Grover, the blue & gold, was the largest and you actually

Caesar who loves his treats. My shopping fiend brother picked up a couple of posters. We paid $2 for admission—though I think kids and seniors get a discount. The Center was popular with seniors on weekdays—some seemed to be regular visitors to the parrots. If you’re

Zico, Hyacin Macaw

ever in the neighborhood it’s worth a visit. Kaytee has info on the Center & their research on their webpage: www.kaytee.com