A blue and gold macaw is presented on Thursday at the opening of the Holland Meadowlark Amphitheater at the Henry Doorly Zoo. The amphitheater will feature three shows daily with 15 bird species.
SARAH HOFFMAN/THE WORLD-HERALD
A blue and gold macaw flies over the audience on Thursday at the opening of the Holland Meadowlark Amphitheater at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha.
SARAH HOFFMAN/THE WORLD-HERALD
Mandi Krebs, the Omaha zoo’s interactive animal programs manager, speaks on Thursday at the opening of the Holland Meadowlark Amphitheater.
SARAH HOFFMAN/THE WORLD-HERALD
Guinea fowl run through the audience on Thursday at the opening of the Holland Meadowlark Amphitheater at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha.
SARAH HOFFMAN/THE WORLD-HERALD
Guinea fowl run through the audience on Thursday at the opening of the Holland Meadowlark Amphitheater at the Henry Doorly Zoo.
SARAH HOFFMAN/THE WORLD-HERALD
A blue and gold macaw flies over the audience on Thursday at the opening of the Holland Meadowlark Amphitheater at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha.
SARAH HOFFMAN/THE WORLD-HERALD
Two red-fronted macaws are seen at the opening of the Holland Meadowlark Amphitheater at the Henry Doorly Zoo on Thursday.
SARAH HOFFMAN/THE WORLD-HERALD
The Holland Meadowlark Amphitheater is seen on Thursday, June 15, 2017, the day before its opening.
Most animal training sessions at the zoo allow you to see a creature in action, but only from a distance. Here, the animals will come join you in the crowd.
The Holland Meadowlark Amphitheater, the Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium’s new 400-seat arena for live bird shows, opened Friday.
Placed throughout the stands are perches disguised as rocks and trees. During the 20-minute Birds of Flight programs, birds will fly into the audience.
“The birds are going to be coming at you from all different directions,” said Dennis Pate, the zoo’s CEO and executive director.
Gold, blue and red macaws will perch at the rear of the amphitheater, spreading brightly colored wings as they soar toward a tree on the stage. A flock of guinea fowl — think of them as African chickens — will run up and down amphitheater stairs, scuttling through the crowd from one feeding station to another.
The amphitheater is tucked into a hillside just north of the Desert Dome, near the zoo’s north entrance. It’s named for the meadowlark, the state bird, and the late Mary and Dick Holland, the lead donors.
The project is one of three zoo additions this summer, budgeted at $27.5 million combined. The nearby Children’s Adventure Trails exhibit and a new zoo academy and office building, called the Education Center, will open at the end of the month on the site of a former parking lot.
Pate said he looked to other zoos for inspiration when designing the amphitheater. Zoos in Salt Lake City and San Diego have similar structures.
Shows will include 15 species of birds, including hawks, owls, parrots and vultures.
Crowd-hopping birds surely will steal the show, but Pate said the amphitheater is about more than theatrics. The overarching message of the stage show is conservation.
“We always talk about conservation, but when you have live animals together with a narrative about conservation, people really retain that information much better,” Pate said. “I think they’re going to be interested to learn what they can do in their backyards and their daily lives to help animals.
“We’ll have birds help tell that story.”
Tickets for shows are $3 for zoo members and $4 for nonmembers. Through the end of June, the zoo is allowing guests in for free while it works out any kinks.
The 8,700-square-foot amphitheater, called Meadowlark Theater for short, will host three shows daily, at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Eventually the zoo plans to add other species to the stage.
“We won’t just limit it to birds,” said Mandi Krebs, the zoo’s interactive animal programs manager. “We’ll have a few mammals in there as well to keep things interesting.”
The new amphitheater is bordered with light-colored wood and dark mulch, with entrances from the north and the south. The stage, on the south side of the amphitheater, is sodded and features a tree. Plants along the back wall and rocks add to the aesthetic.
Above, there’s no net. Instead there’s tan cloth for shade, and a few mounted speakers.
The birds arrived in April from California, where they were used to a wider range. When training for the show, some birds flew off zoo grounds, as far away as Interstate 80, but they always returned to the amphitheater. The zoo hasn’t lost one yet.
For the safety of the birds, the Omaha Public Power District covered nearby power lines with protective yellow coils as visual indicators; birds often don’t see power lines until it’s too late.
On Thursday, the zoo held an official ribbon-cutting for the amphitheater, inviting a few dozen spectators, including students, board members and zoo staff.
Cosmo, a blue-and-gold macaw, flew from the rear of the amphitheater to the stage, perched and used her beak to unfurl a sign in gold and gray: “Welcome to Meadowlark Theater.”
Holland Meadowlark Amphitheater
Location: Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium, near the north entrance
Shows: 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. daily, 20 minutes each
Tickets: $3 for members, $4 for nonmembers (free through June 30)
Seating: 400
Programming: 15 bird species, plus small mammals in the future
Namesakes: Donors Dick and Mary Holland and the state bird, the meadowlark
Features: Bird perches in the audience, greenery throughout, speaker system, shade covering, stone amphitheater seating, no netting overhead
Mike Kotulak, the facilities and grounds director at Duchesne Academy, carefully cut the bird loose with scissors, but the owl didn’t fly away.
A blue and gold macaw is presented on Thursday at the opening of the Holland Meadowlark Amphitheater at the Henry Doorly Zoo. The amphitheater will feature three shows daily with 15 bird species.