Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Gardens Aviary overview and review

Julio C Castro

Julio C Castro

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
One of the under appreciated sections of the entire zoo, the aviary is home to lively and colorful birds from around the world. It’s split into two large walkthrough exhibits, each with a geographical theme: Africa/Asia and Australasia. Very dense with vegetation, birds find havens at all parts from the ground to the very top of the trees. If you aren’t very interested in seeing birds and just want to walk around, it can be seen in minutes. But for those who share a love of birds or wildlife in general, you can easily spend 30 minute to an hour to try to spot every bird in the aviary. Even as an avid member of the LA Zoo, I can almost always find a new bird or just a better view of them. The Africa/Asia exhibit appears to be the more heavily populated as well as more lively. The frequency of being able to see a bird whether far or close is almost immediately. Towards the top of the aviary, where the waterfall originates, there are a group of African birds who like to wade through the flowing river or prepare their nesting site while hiding from the harsh sun. The waterfall flows into a pond area which is home to waterfowl whom either swim around or go diving for their food that their keepers set down. Walking to upper section, it begins to split from one section to the next which is Australasia. The bigger walkthrough of the two, it begins with an elevated section dedicated to ground dwelling birds who nest on the ground. The walkthrough takes a trip down a fleet of stairs, meeting a running stream for ducks to swim and feed from. The positives for the aviary is the beautiful collection of birds whose colors compliment as well make each other stand out from one another. Some birds aren’t as afraid for visitors and will sometime be perched within a meter distance, being able to capture some truly great photographs. Another positive is the shade, the LA Zoo has the fortune as well as misfortune, of being very sunny and due to the sun being high up on a pretty open zoo that the sun can burn you quick. You can stop and sit on a bench in the aviary to hear all the chirping which is very enjoyable. A couple negatives is that it’s not easily accessible for many. People who have trouble walking, elderly, and disabled people will not be able to see some portions of the aviary. There are ramps to the entrance which can allow for those who have trouble walking to enter but it can be rather annoying or just difficult enough to taint the experience. Another problem would be that it may be difficult to find birds or possible lack of numbers. Although there are more than a handful of species within both sections, it can appear to be sparse as the the diversity seen on a daily basis. I haven’t visited many aviaries to be fair and may seem more a small issue for those who visited multiple aviaries across many zoos, my only other experience would be a quick walkthrough the many aviaries the San Diego Zoo has which would’ve been close to a decade ago. Below I’ll have listed the species in regards to the sections they inhabit in the aviary. A small disclosure, there are some species that may not be listed due to either lack of signage, being moved to the avian conservation center, or recently introduced species.

Africa/Asia section:
Nicobar Pigeon
White Crowned Robin Chat
Sacred Ibis
African Spoonbill
Superb Starling
Bruce’s Green Pigeon
Violet Turaco
West African Crowned Crane
Purple Swamphen
Spur Winged Lapwing
White Faced Whistling Duck

Australasia section:
Masked Lapwing
Galah
Bornean Crested Fireback Pheasant
Chestnut Teal
Red Billed Blue Magpie
Australian Wood Duck

If you are an avid bird fanatic or want to just chill out away from direct sunlight, the aviary is a must stop at the zoo. Make sure to pack a good camera and a water for you are likely to stick around to take photographs of all the birds that are visible. Please don’t forget to check the exhibit floors due to some birds being very shy of humans or just like to spend time on the ground. In my most recent trips, the aviary is somewhat a soft spot for me and love to spend time just listening to the birds. Also be considerate of not making loud noises, most of the birds are rather timid and can stress out easily if being shouted at or just generally loudly talking. I hope you all enjoy this review and overview, more on the way and will continue to post photos!
 
Edgy or not, keeping control of rodents in a zoo is not necessarily a simple matter and can have fatal consequences for collection animals. Despite all best efforts, two red pandas at NZP died years ago from eating rat poison. The rodenticide was obviously not placed within reach, but zoos are filled with wild animals that live in the environs. All it takes is for some bird or small mammal to find a piece of something that looks interesting, grab it, and drop it in the enclosure of an exhibit animal while passing through or flying over. Not really a laughing matter.
 
AmbikaFan said:
Edgy or not, keeping control of rodents in a zoo is not necessarily a simple matter and can have fatal consequences for collection animals. Despite all best efforts, two red pandas at NZP died years ago from eating rat poison. The rodenticide was obviously not placed within reach, but zoos are filled with wild animals that live in the environs. All it takes is for some bird or small mammal to find a piece of something that looks interesting, grab it, and drop it in the enclosure of an exhibit animal. Not really a laughing matter.
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I do understand that completely, it appeared to me that it sounded like a joke about that which I have seen at the zoo first hand about rats.
 
jpc323 said:
Mostly just joking, although it seems most pronounced to me in the aviary for whatever reason.

@AmbikaFan I was living in DC when that happened, so sad.
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I’m sorry if I came off like I was laughing at the situation about the rats, I swear I wasn’t laughing about the problem but it was my dumb brain toke it as a joke what you had said so I apologize for it. The area I’ve seen it more prevalent is by the gorillas which is going to be one of my talking points for when I review it, like almost every time I go through I see them along the shrubs and sometimes chasing lizards too.
 
@jpj323, Understood. Sorry if I came down too hard, but this is one difficult and potentially-dangerous problem to solve. I have no idea of anything one can do safely in an aviary, and I just shiver thinking of the impossibility of keeping gorillas out of anything within reach. They'd treat the most durable metal traps as puzzle feeders. I don't know if this is worth a new thread, but I have long been worried by this problem and can't imagine practical solutions....
 
AmbikaFan said:
@jpj323, Understood. Sorry if I came down too hard, but this is one difficult and potentially-dangerous problem to solve. I have no idea of anything one can do safely in an aviary, and I just shiver thinking of the impossibility of keeping gorillas out of anything within reach. They'd treat the most durable metal traps as puzzle feeders. I don't know if this is worth a new thread, but I have long been worried by this problem and can't imagine practical solutions....
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So far from my multiple visits over the past month, I haven’t obviously seen them in the exhibits but definitely along the shrubbery of the pedestrian walkway for the Gorilla exhibit. It would be very scary and potentially life threatening if they carried a disease or diseases that can possibly kill off the whole group we have at the zoo. I do hope something is done or being done already to hamper the rat issue.
 
Rats are possibly the only animal found in every zoo in the world, and certainly the most numerous. All zoos can do is try to keep numbers under control so they are not evident to members of the public, if for no other reason to avoid lectures about the perceived threats of rat infestations.

Having said that, aviaries can and should be built to be rat-proof.
 
jpc323 said:
You left out the rats
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When I visited the L.A. Zoo a couple of years ago, I was stunned at the number of rats in the walk-through aviary. Of course, any zoo visitor should be used to seeing rats, but the numbers, and the brazen confidence of the rodents, was like nothing I had seen before. Subsequently, I have visited Olmense Zoo in Belgium, which knocks LA back into second place!
 
sooty mangabey said:
When I visited the L.A. Zoo a couple of years ago, I was stunned at the number of rats in the walk-through aviary. Of course, any zoo visitor should be used to seeing rats, but the numbers, and the brazen confidence of the rodents, was like nothing I had seen before. Subsequently, I have visited Olmense Zoo in Belgium, which knocks LA back into second place!
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They are brave as hell to try to be in the same space as the birds in the aviary even at times trying to sneak past them to eat their food
 
sooty mangabey said:
When I visited the L.A. Zoo a couple of years ago, I was stunned at the number of rats in the walk-through aviary. Of course, any zoo visitor should be used to seeing rats, but the numbers, and the brazen confidence of the rodents, was like nothing I had seen before. Subsequently, I have visited Olmense Zoo in Belgium, which knocks LA back into second place!
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New EU regulations on poisons now outlaw pro-active pre-baiting for rat control. Pest controllers and landowners are now only allowed to bait to control an infestation, not to prevent one from establishing. I fear the problem being discussed here is likely to worsen...
 
Julio C Castro said:
They are brave as hell to try to be in the same space as the birds in the aviary even at times trying to sneak past them to eat their food
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The rats at the LA Zoo seem rather sizable, I don't think they fear much. Last time I was there I saw a massive rat in the Francois' langur exhibit, at first quick glance I thought it was an exhibited animal. Out of curiosity, how do other zoos control their rat populations? It's not like at Disneyland where a dedicated group of feral cats can be kept around to manage things.
 
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