THE free flight bird aviary at the Wagga Botanic Gardens zoo has introduced its feathered residents, following repairs.
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The birds were rehoused in separate cages at the zoo during the aviary's closure and will be released back in stages.
"Now that all works have been completed on the aviary, we will be releasing 25 of our current resident birds back into the structure," Wagga City Council's (WWCC) director of environmental and community service Janice Summerhayes said.
"The others will be slowly released in groups over the next few days so as not to cause them too much distress."
The species of birds housed in the free flight aviary have been carefully chosen.
They must not be too territorial or destructive as they could potentially damage the aviary or harm each other.
The free flight aviary, which opened in the early '90s, has had many bird species call it home.
The aviary has housed over 80 different varieties of species, and prior to its closure, hosted about 250 birds.
It was named the biggest free flight aviary in Australia at the time of its construction.
Repairs to the structure included installing new support poles, restitching the roof to suit the new height of the poles, trimming plants and trees under the netting, remulching all the garden beds and undertaking replanting where necessary.
Other repairs were made to the various bird boxes in the aviary, boardwalk and walking paths within the aviary.
The free flight aviary provides an opportunity for the public to get up close and personal with the birds as they would be in the wild, which offers visitors to the zoo an ideal spot for photographs.
The gardens are open between 9am and 5pm every day.
