A peek into Bird Paradise with the Fujifilm X-Pro3

Peeping into Paradise

With the tagline, “Peeping into Paradise”, the largest bird park in Asia with over 3500 birds across 8 aviaries had its soft opening very recently. The family was blessed enough to receive complimentary tickets for a media preview and so here we go!

For this media preview, I kept the big lenses at home for another day of exploration and instead decided to go lighter with the Fujifilm X-Pro3, XF23mm ƒ1.4 WR, and the XF56mm ƒ1.2 WR.

However, of course, if you are keen on some samples from the telephoto lenses, check out my review of the Fujifilm XF150-600mm ƒ5.6-8 R LM OIS WR here.

Tribute to Jurong Bird Park’s Waterfall Aviary

Upon entering the gates, the first structure one sees will be a large waterfall that pays tribute to the former Jurong Bird Park’s Waterfall Aviary, which was Asia’s largest man-made waterfall before the half-a-century-old premises closed.

The updated waterfall at Bird Paradise has been designed with accessibility in mind, allowing visitors to get so close that they can get drenched in its mist or simply go for that “I took a photo with a waterfall!” shot.

The 8 Aviaries

Moving into the key areas, Bird Paradise is spread across 8 spacious walk-through aviaries, each of them reflecting a different biome of the world; for example, the Hong Leong Foundation Crimson Wetlands mimics the landscape of South America’s flooded savannahs and has about 40 species.

I hope you noticed that these are two different species in the top and bottom photographs 😉

Names of the other aviaries are Kuok Group Wings of Asia, Amazonian Jewels, Songs of the Forest, Lory Loft, Mysterious Papua, Australian Outback, and of course not forgetting Penguin Cove.

Having visited the previous Jurong Bird Park that opened in 1971 (that’s 52 years ago!), I am most appreciative of how the aviaries have been updated in their designs to reflect, as far as possible, the birds in their natural habits without the unsightly huge cage structures previously used to house some of the inhabitants.

Linking the aviaries are also well-designed structures like bridges to provide visitors a seamless experience as far as possible. One hardly really needs the park tram now to move between exhibit areas in the new park.

Any legitimate animal reserve will indeed have its own shows. Bird Paradise is no exception, with its 2000 seats at Sky Amphitheatre hosting two new animal programs – Predators on Wings and Wings of the World. The amphitheater has a digital screen not previously available at Jurong Bird Park’s show areas.

And of course, not forgetting Penguin Cove and the numerous other inhabitants!

And if one finds the entry costs prohibitive, admission will be slightly lower for visits from May 8 to 26, costing $38 for an adult and $23 for a child aged three to 12, while seniors 60 years old and above will pay $20.

Bird Paradise will also work with social service agencies and schools to provide about 250,000 free or heavily discounted tickets for visits to its parks every year.

To end, allowbme to share my favorite bird in the park below (it costs SGD39.90!)

Thank you for reading.

Disclaimers.

1. All images were shot with the Fujifilm X-Pro3, XF23mm F1.4 R LM WR and the XF56mm F1.2 R WR

2. Media passes to Bird Paradise were kindly provided for the visit. Bird Paradise did not require any social media postings or writing to be done for the visit, and I wrote this simply because I wanted to.

3. I do not do affiliate purchase links to keep myself neutral. I write as a passion and a hobby, and I appreciate that photography brands are kind enough to respect and work with me.

4. I am, of course, not paid to write this.

5. The best way to support me is to share the article, or you can always support me by buying me a cup of coffee which contributes to my WordPress fees for running the site using the Paypal button at the bottom of the page