First visit to New York (Brooklyn), Help!?!

Badgerman91

Badgerman91

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
Hi, I live in the United Kingdom and will be travelling over to visit my brother who lives in Brooklyn for the first time around October 2020. He has asked me to put together a to do or to see list and I want to include a zoo or two on the list.
From Animal Planets “The Zoo” I’m aware of Bronx Zoo but wanted to ask if there are any other zoos that I should visit that wouldn’t be as well known over here? We are staying in the New York area so anything accessible would be great!
Thanks in advance! (Also more than happy for this thread to be moved to a more appropriate area if deemed necessary!)
 
Badgerman91 said:
Hi, I live in the United Kingdom and will be travelling over to visit my brother who lives in Brooklyn for the first time around October 2020. He has asked me to put together a to do or to see list and I want to include a zoo or two on the list.
From Animal Planets “The Zoo” I’m aware of Bronx Zoo but wanted to ask if there are any other zoos that I should visit that wouldn’t be as well known over here? We are staying in the New York area so anything accessible would be great!
Thanks in advance! (Also more than happy for this thread to be moved to a more appropriate area if deemed necessary!)
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Bronx is tremendous, one of the best zoos in the world. An all-day zoo with a great collection and some terrific exhibits. Central Park Zoo is another collection I’d recommend, it’s small but very nice and in an easily accessible location.

Other collections in New York include Prospect Park Zoo, Queens Zoo and the New York Aquarium (which just opened an impressive looking new exhibit).
 
I found Central Park Zoo to be rather underwhelming. It's not cheap and really only a 45-minute affair. Prospect Park is the same size, but cheaper and less crowded. Qualitatively it's a bit below CPZ in my opinion. Bronx is amazing and really indispensable to any NYC trip.

I've heard good things about Staten Island Zoo too, but haven't been there.
 
I'm in NYC on a 2 week trip at the moment. With thanks to members on here, managed to plot quite a good zoo heavy itinerary.

I bought a two person year's membership to WCS, which has definitely saved me money, visiting zoos with my brother.

Bronx zoo is both amazing and huge, both in terms of species exhibited and in terms of distance to walk. At this time of year, gorillas, okapi, mandrill and slender horned gazelle were not in evidence. And the monorail is, of course, closed. I've been before but the mouse house and the bird houses staggered me. I'm going again on Wednesday to hit the bits that I missed and to resee the rarities (hopefully).

Central park zoo is lovely. With membership, I've popped along for several mornings and saw the elusive gonolek yesterday. Great if you are into zoo architecture and zoo history.

As is Prospect Park zoo, an architectural gem. Cool little collection, not a HUGE amount there but worth visiting for me for the black footed cat and the dingoes amongst a few others. Also, it will be the closest to you, if you're staying in Brooklyn.

Queens zoo is tomorrow!
 
Should also say, if you aren't from the US or NY area, Central Park generally is amazingly rich for birds. Have done one birding walk and been out for several birding jaunts.

The Tisch children's zoo next to central park zoo also has some good ducks and birds, not to be missed. And the added benefit, when I was there yesterday, of a Cooper's hawk trying to get into the meshed waterfowl ponds at the wild starlings and sparrows.
 
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As mentioned, the Prospect Park Zoo is located in Brooklyn so will be the easiest for you to reach most likely. It's not large but has a great collection and is a really underrated little zoo imo. In the past I have combined it with both Central Park and the New York Aquarium, though not at the same time. It's possible to do all three in a day, I think, but I wouldn't recommend that for a first visit. I have combined Central Park Zoo and the American Museum of Natural History before as well; the walk between the two cuts through Central Park itself which it cool in its own right.

As others have eluded to, CPZ can be a bit underwhelming unfortunately. It's nice, but it seems to lose more and more species each year. Currently the main highlights would probably be the Grizzly Bears, Plum-Headed Parakeet (if it's still alive), Yellow-Crowned Gonolek (if it's still alive), White-Fronted Amazon (if it's still alive), Chinstrap Penguin, Atlantic Puffin, Long-Tailed Duck, and Pink-Eared Duck which still makes for a nice selection. The aquarium is lovely, but still under repairs from Hurricane Sandy back in 2012. The main exhibits have mostly reopened and the brand new Ocean Wonders: Sharks! is pretty fantastic. Queens I've only been to once and it's very nice but also small. For a Brit, species like Pronghorn, Chacoan Peccary, North American Cougar, Canada Lynx, and Thick-Billed Parrot are probably the highlights. There are some native passerines int he aviary as well but not sure if there's anything there you couldn't see wild fairly easily (I also don't know if the natives are actually wild or not). Unfortunately the Coyotes are not pure and actually CoyoteXEastern Wolf hybrids.

I can't really tell you where I think you should prioritize simply because I do not know your interests or your zoo visiting style. Hopefully the above can help guide you to a decision, though. Hope you have a good trip!

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
As mentioned, the Prospect Park Zoo is located in Brooklyn so will be the easiest for you to reach most likely. It's not large but has a great collection and is a really underrated little zoo imo. In the past I have combined it with both Central Park and the New York Aquarium, though not at the same time. It's possible to do all three in a day, I think, but I wouldn't recommend that for a first visit. I have combined Central Park Zoo and the American Museum of Natural History before as well; the walk between the two cuts through Central Park itself which it cool in its own right.

As others have eluded to, CPZ can be a bit underwhelming unfortunately. It's nice, but it seems to lose more and more species each year. Currently the main highlights would probably be the Grizzly Bears, Plum-Headed Parakeet (if it's still alive), Yellow-Crowned Gonolek (if it's still alive), White-Fronted Amazon (if it's still alive), Chinstrap Penguin, Atlantic Puffin, Long-Tailed Duck, and Pink-Eared Duck which still makes for a nice selection. The aquarium is lovely, but still under repairs from Hurricane Sandy back in 2012. The main exhibits have mostly reopened and the brand new Ocean Wonders: Sharks! is pretty fantastic. Queens I've only been to once and it's very nice but also small. For a Brit, species like Pronghorn, Chacoan Peccary, North American Cougar, Canada Lynx, and Thick-Billed Parrot are probably the highlights. There are some native passerines int he aviary as well but not sure if there's anything there you couldn't see wild fairly easily (I also don't know if the natives are actually wild or not). Unfortunately the Coyotes are not pure and actually CoyoteXEastern Wolf hybrids.

I can't really tell you where I think you should prioritize simply because I do not know your interests or your zoo visiting style. Hopefully the above can help guide you to a decision, though. Hope you have a good trip!

~Thylo
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Gonolek still alive and kicking as of yesterday.
 
oflory said:
Should also say, if you aren't from the US or NY area, Central Park generally is amazingly rich for birds. Have done one birding walk and been out for several birding jaunts.

The Tisch children's zoo next to central park zoo also has some good ducks and birds, not to be missed. And the added benefit, when I was there yesterday, of a Cooper's hawk trying to get into the meshed waterfowl ponds at the wild starlings and sparrows.
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ThylacineAlive said:
Good to hear! That's the last on in US zoos. Any sign of the parrots or any other rarities?

~Thylo
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No sign of the plum headed parakeet, I'm afraid, but could just have missed it. The amazon is likely there but haven't seen it clearly enough to distinguish from the other amazons in the rainforest area.
 
One thing to remember about all five zoos is that the hours are 10-4:30. Technically the grounds are open until 5, but exhibits close and animals are brought in at 4:30.
 
oflory said:
No sign of the plum headed parakeet, I'm afraid, but could just have missed it. The amazon is likely there but haven't seen it clearly enough to distinguish from the other amazons in the rainforest area.
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The zoo only had two amazon last I was there, one White-Fronted and one Lilac-Crowned.

Chlidonias said:
Is Plum-headed Parakeet considered unusual? They are a common aviary bird.
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Only ever seen them in four US zoos.

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
The zoo only had two amazon last I was there, one White-Fronted and one Lilac-Crowned.



Only ever seen them in four US zoos.

~Thylo
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There were definitely more than two amazons, but were all perched in a huddle high up in canopy, so difficult to see.

I think there are additional lilac crowned in the glass fronted aviary as you enter the tropical house.

Back from Queens zoo, which I loved. Big thanks to @ThylacineAlive for making me aware the off exhibit pronghorns can be seen beyond the elk paddock. Easy to spot but glad I had my binoculars.
 
oflory said:
There were definitely more than two amazons, but were all perched in a huddle high up in canopy, so difficult to see.

I think there are additional lilac crowned in the glass fronted aviary as you enter the tropical house.
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Sounds like there have been some parrot changes since my last visit then!

~Thylo
 
Back to the original question: With only a few days in NYC I would give the time required to the Bronx Zoo and skip the others. All pleasant but there are so many other amazing things to see and do in NYC. If aquariums are considered you might head over to the New York Aquarium (which is in Brooklyn).
 
Thanks for some great responses and recommendations! I will discuss with my brother and when plans are finalised I shall let you know!

I am interested to see how different UK zoos are to American zoos!
 
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