Bird Park “Sparrows”.

Bird Park “Sparrows”

Sparrows Bird Park is a large modern zoo and amusement park located in Zhukovsky District of Kaluga Region, 75 km from the Moscow Ring Road. It was opened in 2005 and became the first bird park in Russia. Today, more than 2,700 individuals representing 484 animal species are kept here.

Video: Sparrows Bird Park

• Highlights
• Residents of the Sparrows Bird Park
• Bird Park in winter
• Useful information for visitors
• How to get there

Highlights

The initiative to create such an unusual zoo as the Sparrows Bird Park belonged to the spouses Alexander and Tatiana Belyavsky, engineers by education and great fans of ornithology. For more than 30 years they collected a private collection of birds, the beginning of which was laid by several exotic parrots. Gradually, the city apartment became too small for the birds, and the Belyavskys moved to the Moscow region. In 2003, they bought the vacant land of the state farm “Pobeda” and in two years built a unique park there.

In addition to birds collected from around the world, domestic and exotic animals are kept here. All visitors note that the feathered birds and animals look much better than in ordinary zoos. The reason for the good health of local inhabitants is spacious enclosures, special care and plenty of fresh air. The territory of the bird park “Sparrows” is far away from noisy highways and industrial production, near the edge of the forest.

Unusual zoo is very popular with residents of the capital. The road to it takes only a couple of hours. Parents with children and companies of friends go here. In addition to observing the inhabitants, here you can make memorable photos with birds of prey, ride in a carriage, play paintball and horseback riding. The Sparrows Bird Park is visited for a couple hours and on weekends.

The territory of the zoo is very well maintained. Blooming flowerbeds neighbor with wooden sculptures, and decorative shrubs organically complement the rows of cages and pens. Professional landscape designers and florists have transformed the former wasteland into a beautiful piece of nature.

Residents of the Sparrows Bird Park

Of course, the main residents of the unusual zoo are feathered birds. About a third of the territory of the bird park “Sparrows” is given to domestic birds – chickens, geese, pigeons, turkeys, guillemots, peacocks, ostriches and pheasants. It is noteworthy that here you can not only see exotic breeds of poultry, but also buy young birds.

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Wild birds nesting in Russia live in different places of the park. The ponds are home to waterfowl – pelicans, whooper swans, red-breasted geese and mandarin ducks. In the bird park “Sparrows” storks, cranes, herons, herons, sultanas, caraways and graceful flamingos feel themselves perfectly. Among birds of prey you can see falcons, eagles, eagles, long-eared owls, boobies and owls in the cages. In addition, the aviaries exhibit a rich collection of forest species – grouse, thrushes, lapwing, chirps and other birds whose singing decorates the forest edges.

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The Sparrows Bird Park has the largest collection of parrots in the country. Next to them are cages with tropical jungle dwellers such as toucans, hornbills, tropical pigeons, turtledoves, turtledoves and turacos.

Of the animals, the Sparrows Bird Park is home to sloths, armadillos, American skunks raccoons, caracals, servals, lemurs, black-armed gibbons and small funny monkeys – saimiri, toy monkeys and tamarins. Roe deer, fallow deer, llamas, dikdik antelope, peccaries and Bennett’s kangaroos graze in spacious paddocks.

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A new area has recently been opened to house the “Tropical World” and “Night Zoo” pavilions, which are home to nocturnal animals. These include hedgehogs, bats, lories, galago and African civets. The Sparrows Bird Park has its own ostrich farm and mini-animal pens. Ponies, donkeys, Cameroon goats, sheep and mini horses are kept here. Other new additions to the spacious zoo include a picturesque Stone Park and collections of minerals and butterflies.

Bird park in winter

Sparrows Bird Park welcomes guests at any time of the year, but if the thermometer drops below +5°C, exotic birds are transferred to closed aviaries. Coming to the zoo in winter, you can see a lot of birds outdoors and in warm pavilions. “Tropical World” presents to the guests of the park parrots, brightly colored amadins, astrids, finches and euphoniums, lemon and diamond turtles and painted Chinese quail. Here it is also interesting to observe small sturgeons in the pond. And in the “Songbirds” pavilion, even on frosty days, you can hear birds whistling and ringing trills.

In winter, hot tea and fragrant mulled wine are in high demand at the Pelican Cafe. An ice slide is poured for visitors, and children and adults ride on it on skulls.

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Most animals perfectly tolerate winter, so you can always see squirrels and hares, deer and goats on the territory of the bird park “Sparrows”.

Useful information for visitors

The Sparrows Bird Park is open all year round. It opens every day at 10.00 and finishes receiving visitors with darkness. There is a café “Pelikan” and a kebab shop, so that visitors do not stay hungry.

Those who want to spend more than one day in the zoo, can stay at the recreation center “Ivolga”. It is built in a picturesque place, on the shore of the lake, where there is a beach for swimming. At the recreation center guests are accommodated in comfortable hotel rooms. In addition, on the territory you can put tents.

The “Ivolga” has its own restaurant “Chizh”, swimming pool, spa center, solarium, gym and sauna. A game room and a children’s pool are open for young travelers. The recreation center has courts for playing table tennis, badminton, volleyball and basketball, and free Wi-Fi. Those who wish can rent rowing boats, bicycles and quad bikes. And in winter skating, skiing and snowmobiling are popular here.

The guests of “Ivolga” are allowed to visit the territory with aviaries for free during daylight hours, while for other visitors the bird park “Sparrows” opens at 10.00. Tourists staying at the recreation center can watch the birds and animals as soon as they wake up.

In memory of a visit to the bird park “Sparrows” many travelers purchase souvenirs, booklets about feathered birds and beautiful author’s jewelry.

How to get there

Those who get there by private car, you need to drive 75 km from the Moscow Ring Road on the Kievskoye or Kaluga highway. In the center of the village of Voroby, behind the bus stop – turn left at the sign. From here to the bird park “Vorobyi” is about one kilometer along the asphalted road.

The road by public transportation takes longer. From Kievsky railway station take a train to the station “Balabanovo”, and then change to a shuttle bus going to the state farm “Pobeda”. There is also another option: you can take an electric train to the station “Obninskoye”, and from there you can get to the bird park “Sparrows” by shuttle bus “Obninsk – Kamenka”.