The Zookeeper Who Teaches Eagles to Fly for an Audience.

What Makes Megan, Megan?

I live in Victoria's Yarra Valley with my husband and 18-month-old daughter. We live on an acre of land with our chickens, dog and indoor cat. We're a vegan family, and we're passionate about sustainability and the welfare of all animals.

I've always loved the outdoors, and I spend my time with my family and friends going hiking, camping, and snowboarding in winter. We often go to Tasmania for our family holidays, because it's covered in so much untouched wilderness and is thriving with wildlife.

I have a big yard with lots of garden beds, a veggie patch and a greenhouse. I like raising veggies from seeds, but I'm not very good at it yet and usually only get a few good plants. I like to cook though, and it's always a great feeling when I can use something that I've grown in the garden myself.

What Does A Zookeeper Actually Do?

I work as a zookeeper and bird trainer at one of Zoos Victoria's properties, Healesville Sanctuary. At the Sanctuary, my team runs the free-flight bird presentation called Spirits of the Sky. We free-fly a range of different parrot and bird-of-prey species for audiences in a large amphitheatre arena.

We always start our day by weighing each of our birds and checking their overall health. Next, we clean their habitats and make up their food for the day. We spend a large part of our day training the birds. We train using positive reinforcement, which means when we ask a bird to do a behaviour, like fly to our hand, we reward them if they do it. We usually use their favourite foods as a reward, so they are motivated.

Positive reinforcement training works on humans too. If you get a chocolate reward every time you do your homework, you're more likely to keep doing your homework every night to get that reward. It's the same for the birds - they look forward to training with us for the snacks!

The next part of our day is running the Spirits of the Sky presentation. The birds fly straight from their habitats, out into the arena and each bird does a different routine for the audience to showcase their amazing adaptations and natural behaviours. The Pink Cockatoo forages on the ground for seeds and nuts, the Osprey (fishing hawk) dives into a pond, the Black-breasted Buzzard cracks open a pretend emu egg with a rock, and the Australian Kestrel demonstrates a hover flight in mid-air. We also fly threatened species, like the Barking Owl, and can teach people about the challenges our Australian birds face in the wild.

The really cool thing about the presentation is that we remove the barrier between the zoo visitors and the animals, and they get to watch birds just being birds out in nature.

Being a zookeeper is a really great job. We get to work outside all day and hang out with animals. It's a messy job though. We do a lot of weeding, cleaning, scrubbing and picking up poo. But it's worth it to be a part of an organisation that contributes to the conservation of habitats and wildlife, as well as fighting extinction for critically endangered animals.

How Did Megan End Up Working With Birds?

I always wanted to work with animals, so when I got to Year 11 and 12 in high school, I made sure to study science subjects so that I could get into a zoology course at university. I studied a Bachelor of Animal and Veterinary Biosciences at LaTrobe University, and then worked with wildlife for three months as a summer ranger with Parks Victoria. After that, I started zookeeping.

Becoming a zookeeper in Victoria is really competitive. Lots of people love animals, so to get a job, you must stand out. That means a lot of volunteering with animals to show that you're passionate.

Since starting with Zoos Victoria, I've worked with lots of animals, like platypuses, wombats and koalas. I've also helped breed critically endangered animals like Helmeted Honeyeaters, Tasmanian Devils and Corroboree Frogs - even going out into the field to release some into the wild!

One of my favourite parts of zookeeping has always been doing the keeper talks, because I get to share my passion for animals with visitors, hopefully inspiring them to love the animals too. So, I knew I wanted to eventually end up on the Spirits of the Sky team and do the free-flight bird presentation. When a spot came up on the team, I applied and got to move across. That was four years ago now!

What Is Megan Most Proud Of?

I'm proud of contributing every day to wildlife conservation. It can be really hard living in a world where species are going extinct, and habitats are being wiped out. Future generations should get to live in a beautiful natural world, and sometimes it feels like we are losing the battle to protect these spaces. But I get to work for Zoos Victoria, that works towards protecting and restoring habitats, as well as being committed to fighting the extinction of 27 different threatened species.

I also get to come to work every day and teach people to appreciate the birds I care for and teach people simple changes they can make in their lives to help wildlife. We may be losing old growth trees in the wild, but we can put nest boxes up in our gardens. We can plant trees and flowers that attract wildlife to our gardens and leave out water dishes in summer for thirsty animals. We can recycle, reduce use and reuse things to save resources. There are so many little ways we can help change the world.

I'm proud that my life will make a tiny difference to the lives of animals.