If you haven’t been to Sylvan Heights Bird Park in Scotland Neck, there’s now another reason to visit. If you have been, the park has added one more reason to go back.

The park is opening a new exhibit, The Landing Zone, on Saturday.

The new exhibit allows guests to interact with close to 300 birds, including parakeets, flamingos, pond herons and crowned pigeons.

For $1, guests can buy a seed stick to hand-feed the birds.

Park officials said they hope the new exhibit will help connect guests with wildlife in an up-close and personal way.

The exhibit is just the latest example of how Sylvan Heights is working to promote education and conservation.

Sylvan Heights Bird Park, which is the largest bird park in North America, has the largest collection of waterfowl in the world. Sylvan Heights also has a breeding center where staff work to protect rare and endangered waterfowl species.

Mike Lubbock, director of the park and the breeding center, is renowned for his work.

He recently traveled to Trinidad with two dozen ducks that were hatched and hand-reared at Sylvan Heights’ avian breeding center.

The U.S. Embassy in Trinidad had asked Sylvan Heights to help with trying to restore the populations of two native species, the white-faced whistling duck and the Bahama pintail, which were facing extinction on the island. The ducks had been threatened because of unregulated hunting and habitat loss. The ducks that were hatched at Sylvan Heights will be used to help boost wild populations in Trinidad’s wetlands.

Sylvan Heights is a gem for Eastern North Carolina and the state at large.

People travel to Scotland Neck from throughout the United States and other countries to visit Sylvan Heights. We are fortunate to have it in our backyard.

If you haven’t been before, now is the time to go. If you have been, make sure you return soon to check out the new exhibit.