ISLAMABAD: At a huge walk-in aviary in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad last week, visitor Sufyan Shafqat fed white peacocks as they played with the national bird of Brazil, the rufous-bellied thrush, as well as large, bluish-grey Victoria crowned pigeons and vibrantly coloured mandarin ducks.

The 80-foot-high enclosure, located at the Lake View Park in the heart of Islamabad, is the world’s third-largest aviary and houses around 7,000 birds of 400 different species in a protected environment, according to its caretaker.

Other than a safe environment for mostly imported birds, the aviary also offers a "great learning experience" to the hundreds of students and foreign and local tourists who visit the facility daily.

“I have seen the white peacock here for the first time and I am loving it,” intermediate student Shafqat, who had come from Multan, over 500 kilometres from Islamabad, told Arab News.

“I have a special liking for birds, read about them in the books and see them on social media, but it is quite amazing to see them here physically.” 

The aviary is home to a number of varieties of peacocks, cranes, pelicans, ducks, parrots, cockatoos, emus, ostriches, pigeons and other birds imported from Brazil, Australia, Malaysia, and the Americas. 

“We have around twenty percent local and eighty percent imported birds in the aviary and they all are provided with food, water and shelter,” Zubair Ahmed, the aviary in-charge, told Arab News.  “All birds roam freely here in a protected environment and visitors can interact with them and even feed them.” 

With its hundreds of trees, ponds, nests and incubation areas, the enclosure offers a natural habitat to most birds while some are kept in cages and cabins specially designed so visitors can interact with them closely. 

“The good thing is they [the management] have planted fruit trees here and birds could pluck them for food,” Shafqat said. 

There is also a tame birds' section in the aviary where visitors can bring their own pet birds while around 50 trained staffers remain available on the premises to offer any assistance.

A well-equipped hatchery on the premises helps with artificial incubation in a controlled temperature for breeding and a state-of-the-art hospital provides quarantine for new birds.  

“We quarantine new birds for seven to fourteen days in the hospital, vaccinate and treat them before releasing them in the aviary,” Ahmed said.

For children’s entertainment, one section of the aviary offers pony rides, with the management taming and training the animals with the help of skilled instructors. 

“It is a tough job to tame and train the horses, take care of all the birds round the clock,” Ahmed said, "but we are doing it for the pleasure of our visitors.”