Archie, a handsome Eurasian eagle owl with gold and black plumage, swoops over an audience at the National Aviary to fetch a waiting treat on the other side of the outdoor Rose Garden.
Then, the huge bird makes a U-turn, flies back to the stage, and lands on a perch just behind the head of visitor Nicole Angert, who snaps a close-up photo.
"It was exciting," says Angert, 34, of Butler, Butler County. She came to the aviary last week with her two daughters -- Kayla, 10, and Sara, 8 -- specifically to see Wings of the World, an outdoor free-flight bird show that will play twice a day through Monday, when it ends for the season.
"That's the best part of the aviary," Angert says of the show, which played through the summer and is about to fly out until next year.
Wings of the World, now in its fourth year, offers up-close encounters with rare and endangered birds from around the world. The feathered friends swoop closely over visitors' heads as they fly on command, and perform some of their natural behaviors from the wild.
Sara Angert says the Wings of the World show is "cool."
"It's very cool," her sister pipes in.
The cast includes Squirt, a southern ground hornbill from Africa who has a puffy orange-red bill and a 6-foot wing span. Then there's Sluggo, a black-legged seriema who demonstrates his prey-killing techniques by slamming a plastic toy lizard against a rock. A parrot sings songs and makes funky noises, while a flock of macaws flies overhead at the end of the show.
"It's a sight you don't often get to see outside the rainforest," says Bre Fryk, an animal trainer with Orlando, Fla.-based Natural Encounters. The company produces the show along with the aviary.
The show has been popular with aviary visitors: More than 14,000 came to the show last summer, and as of last week, more than 15,200 came this year, according to aviary numbers.
The birds, who perform on command like clockwork, learn through positive reinforcement given by their trainers over the years, Fryk says. Food treats are a big motivator.
Audience members get quite a treat themselves when they come to Wings of the World, Fryk says. The trainers performing in the show regularly ask for audience volunteers for some of the birds' tricks. People also get good photo opportunities, and can donate some bills to a container designated for raising wildlife preservation funds. The birds usually snatch the donations from visitors and drop them in the box, Fryk says.
"They get to have really close encounters with the birds," she says. The show is "kind of educational, but also a lot of entertainment as well."
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