Turtle Bay Exploration Park holds many interactive events, as you may already know, but did you hear about the bird that paints? That's right! A bird shows off its truly impressive talent every Friday at Turtle Bay.

An immersive painting class that's free with admission to the Turtle Bay Exploration Park. Once everyone is sitting, it's time to bring in the true artist to paint for the viewers. This happens all while learning important information about the animal.

Assistant Curator of Animal Programs, Adrianne John, tells KRCR, “most people don't know that magpies actually lost half their population in the early 2000s because of the West Nile Virus. And they are starting to come back, but for a long time, people actually didn't get to see them very often. So, it's fun and we get to see them do the painting. But, it's also very educational, and we can send that message about how we can appreciate wildlife and help them.”

You can catch Ruckus the Yellow Billed Magpie every Friday at 2 p.m. and could be a good way to get the kids involved and learn something new about these amazing and artistic birds. As well as other animals within the Exploration Park, but it varies.

From painting birds you can then stroll with porcupines on Sunday afternoons, Turtle Bay has lots to offer when it comes to their interactive family friendly events. Along with the garden of lights and different museum exhibits.

John touches on these exploration experiences and when you can attend them. “It's part of our winter programming. Fridays is our animal painting program, Saturdays is our indoor animal show and if we have a lot of people sometimes we will move it outdoors. And we also have aquatic adventures on wednesday and thursdays at 2 o'clock where we highlight some of the animals in the aquarium as well.”

These immersive activities are not only a fun way for kids to learn something new but it's also great for the animals themselves to have these kinds of enrichment activities and exercise.

I love seeing how amazing the interaction is between people and the animals and how it really sparks that interest in them and that appreciation and how excited the kids get." John added "I have my own child now and it's really amazing to see how interested the kids get sometimes in it and it really helps to foster that appreciation as they continue to grow.

The park is closed on Monday’s and Tuesday’s but open 9 AM until 4 PM Wednesday through Friday and 10 AM until 4 PM Saturday and Sunday.