Imagine knowing the names and personalities of several hundred exotic birds. For Jennifer O'Neill, it's second nature.

  • Discovery Cove has almost 70 species of exotic birds at aviaries
  • Many of the hundreds of birds hatched at theme park
  • Aviculturists arrive hours before guests arrive to prepare meals
  • RELATED: Full coverage of SeaWorld Orlando

"It's funny, because everybody coming into the zoo field, they think larger mammals would be so cool to work with," she told us. "And I had an opportunity to work with these guys for about a week, and I fell in love."

O'Neill has been an aviculturist for Discovery Cove since it opened almost 17 years ago. She gets to the park about four to five hours before guests arrive to start preparing the birds' food.

"That's chopping all the fruits and vegetables, that's getting all of their meat ready — it could be fish or different types of insects," she said. "Then we'll come in here and start cleaning... As the sun comes up, when they start waking up, then we'll start telling them apart by looking at their bracelets. [It's] kind of like roll call at school!"

Discovery Cove has three aviaries. A lot of the birds hatched at the theme park, so O'Neill knows each of the 250 in more ways than you'd think.

"A lot of people think birds don't have personalities, but they do," she smiled. "They're so much fun."

Some of the almost 70 species may approach you with the most curious of looks. Others are totally digging the fact that you are holding a treat cup with diced fruits, veggies and whole insects.

"The turacos will come down, like, 'I just want the melons, I just want [this 'n' that],' so yeah, they definitely have their favorites," she said as the birds would basically spit out what's not in their diet.

The birds come from all over the planet, from Asia to South America and Africa. So what about any tiffs they may get into?

"The only time we'd see anything like that is during spring time, when love is in the air and someone's like, 'This is my tree,' " she said. "This is my branch.'"

If you'd like to walk through the aviaries, Discovery Cove is extending its special Florida resident rate through spring break, starting at $149. That includes unlimited admission to SeaWorld and Aquatica for 14 consecutive days surrounding your visit.