The 8-inch Bay Owl didn’t even flinch as I approached it. Big face. Huge black eyes.

These creatures were placed prominently by the entrance as you enter the Penang Bird Park.

According to their website, the Penang Bird Park opened in 1988. I was long gone from Penang, by then.

Located on the mainland in Peninsula Malaysia in Seberang Jaya, this bird park was a lot of fun for us first-time visitors and even my nephew who’s been there and lives in Penang.

This bird was my absolute favorite. There were 3 of them chained to their perch.

I wondered what their lives were like in this bird park compared to that in the wild.

The bird park’s website mentions that these birds had been bred and hatched in captivity, so they probably don’t know better.

This species had a strange face, very small and cute.The trio made a side-by-side rocking motion.

I shot some video footage of the bird show but it was simply too brief and I couldn’t anticipate well in advance to have anything usable to share here.

The bird handler made sure the audience was seated before he showed how his birds of prey would swoop over our heads drawing “oohs and aahs.”

After the show, we posed for pictures with these very tame birds. My son loved this Rhinoceros Hornbill because of its color.

I should have made more careful notes of the different species I photographed. Now I have to scramble and try to name them. So, if anyone out there knows the names of these birds, I’d appreciate your letting me know.

Feeding the birds in the walk-in aviary was a hoot. The birds were really very tame and used to humans. They actually came up to our outstretched hands to delicately pick up the worms we bought.

For this outing, I brought along the:

• Canon Optura Xi camcorder
• Canon 20D digital SLR
• Canon 80-200 mm f2.8 zoom lens
• Canon 17-25 mm f2.8 zoom lens