Zoo InternQuest is a career exploration program for high school students. For more information see the Zoo InternQuest Journals. For more photos see the Zoo Internquest Photo Journal.

It was absolutely wonderful listening to the numerous squawks, quacks, and squeaks coming from the waterfowl in the San Diego Zoo’s flamingo exhibits last Thursday. Most would probably have found it annoying, but not a bird lover like me. I couldn’t get enough of the various birds that swam and flapped around in a sort of organized chaos as our guide for the day, Bird Keeper Josh Zelt, tossed them their food. Today we were getting a look at the day in the life of life of a San Diego Zoo bird keeper.

After feeding the birds in the upper pond we headed to the Bird Department’s main kitchen where Mr. Zelt told us the various tasks he and the other bird keepers would perform on a daily basis: preparing the food trays for the various exhibits, checking up on the animals in their string of exhibits and observing the behavior of the numerous animals under their care. He explained that each keeper was responsible for a string of exhibits which would be anything from a single large aviary or several small aviaries. Mr. Zelt is the relief keeper so he is assigned to different strings depending upon where the department needed him while other keepers were regularly responsible for a single string. Each exhibit might hold several different types of birds, so the keepers would have to prepare individual food trays for each exhibit

From the food preparation kitchen, we drove down to the lower waterfowl pond where we were greeted once again with thousands of quacks and other vocalizations. We all laughed when the noise quieted instantly after Mr. Zelt scattered some of the food throughout the exhibit. Those birds knew what they wanted. One of us asked Mr. Zelt what kind of college education one might need to become a bird keeper. He readily explained that most keepers had at least one degree, while some had numerous degrees in subjects ranging from animal husbandry to biology.

What came next had to be my favorite part of the entire day. We took a quick stroll from the lower duck pond to the Birds of Prey exhibits across the road where we were greeted with a beautiful sight. Sitting on a large branch right in front of our group was the Zoo’s male harpy eagle. This bird was probably one of the most beautiful and the most intimidating birds I had ever seen. His talons were each as thick as a human thumb and as sharp as daggers. The harpy eagle is the largest eagle in the Americas, ranging from Southern Mexico to Northern Argentina. Visiting the harpy eagle and the other birds of prey was a perfect ending to our behind the scenes look at the Zoo’s Bird Department. It gave me a new appreciation for the magnificence and sheer power that birds of prey possess.

Stephen, Careers Team

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