Today, we are back at Kirkleatham Owl Centre, giving you a behind the scenes tour. Read about the birds, watch their progress in training, and get up close and personal with other residents, including the favourite meerkat families. This week, we visit the dry forests

Over the last few years we have overhauled many of our aviaries. They were once home to a single pair of birds and now they have been transformed into fantastic exhibits, quite often based on a particular habitat or country.

They have been themed and planted to represent that habitat and have then become home to a number of different birds from the chosen habitat.

The Northern Echo: Black-cheeked lovebirdsBlack-cheeked lovebirds

The purpose of this was mainly educational. It allows us to tell a more complete story of the birds, their habitat, the eco system and how they are all interwoven.

We feel it is important for our visitors to understand the workings of the natural world, and these exhibits appear to be a success because people often spend a long time viewing our feathered residents going about their daily activities.

One of these exhibits is our dry forest aviay, which is themed on the dry forests of the Tropics. Most people, when thinking about tropical forests, think of dense rainforest – but these “dry” forests are just as important for wildlife. Warm all year round, they have a wet season followed by a hot, dry season and they are home to a wealth of wildlife.

The Northern Echo: Lilac-breasted rollerLilac-breasted roller

In our dry forest aviary we have some stunningly beautiful birds – from the noisy black-cheeked lovebirds from the forests of Zambia, which is vulnerable to extinction in the wild, to the flamboyant lilac-breasted roller, also from Southern Africa.

There are Java sparrows from Indonesia and Sri Lankan junglefowl from, you guessed it, Sri Lanka. In fact, our junglefowl are the only ones in the UK. Junglefowl look like chickens and are actually the ancestor of all domestic chickens.

On a sunny day this aviary is a hive of activity with the lovebirds chattering loudly, the rollers partaking in their favourite pastime of sunbathing – usually lounging sideways on a branch; the junglefowl having a dust bath in the sand and the Java sparrows whizzing around, never still for long.

The Northern Echo: Sri Lankan junglefowlSri Lankan junglefowl

Our visitors spend a long time just taking it all in and, hopefully, they go away having learnt a little at the same time.

Support the work of the owl centre at www.kirkleathamowlcentre.co.uk