Toronga Zoo

The Toronga Zoo is fantastic. Built along a hillside overlooking the Sydney Harbor, this is probably the best place on earth to see Australia's native wildlife. The birds alone are worth the trip, as Toronga boasts four walk-in aviaries, with something like 100 native species. By comparison, the best aviary I've ever seen for North America held perhaps 20 different birds. The Australians are proud of their continent's diversity, and well they should be. The country includes tropical rainforests, antarctic zones, deserts, forests, and rolling hills of farmland. The only other country on earth with this much climate diversity is America.

Josh and I spent most of the day in the aviaries, checking out native birds and exotic imports alike. It's quite magical to have the birds so close, and several are quite tame. Perhaps my favorite was the Victoria Crowned Pigeon, the largest pigeon in the world. Patrick, the resident pigeon in the Wild Australia Aviary, greeted us with a spectacular head-bobbing and whomping display, before hopping up to join me on the bench.

Birdlist (Toronga Zoo)