Fully flighted larger birds

elefante

elefante

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Are there any.zoos that keep fully flighted larger birds like flamingos, cranes, herons, storks, larger waterfowl, or vultures? I dont know if I've ever seen those in enclosed aviaries.

On further research I see this has been discussed. Moderators feel free to delete.
 
The current trend, at least in Europe, is towards keeping flighted birds in aviaries without pinioning. In some groups like vultures, open-toped enclosures are now very rare. Parrots on sticks are pretty rare now too. Flamingo, crane and waterfowl husbandry is also getting modern but still majority of zoo birds don´t live in aviaries.

Some countries like Denmark or Germany had outright banned pinioning and even feather cutting. That leaves their zoos with some older pinioned birds living their remaining days in open spaces but all the younger ones are flighted and must be kept in aviaries.
 
Salzburg zoo still has a colony of free-flying griffon vultures, I think. Amsterdam Zoo and Edinburgh zoo have colonies of free-flying Black-Crowned Night Herons.

Which made me wonder, why no zoo in Europe has a colony of free-flying Waldrapp Ibis? An attractive and endangered native bird, and breeds very well. There is one, but in an ecology research station in Austria.

In the 1980s or so, free-flying birds were somewhat more common, but it was curbed down because of the risk of introducing exotic species.
 
European zoos are far ahead of North American zoos when it comes to having flamingos, cranes, storks, etc., in large aviaries. Many big, famous zoos in the United States pinion large birds and stop them from flying, although there are some zoos (like Toledo and Omaha) that keep flamingos in aviaries. Unfortunately, there is a long list of American zoos with flamingos in open-topped enclosures and the birds cannot gain flight. The infamous 'parrot on a stick' image is still present at loads of North American zoos, while in Europe there are massive aviaries with storks, cranes and other birds all fully flighted. This is one aspect of European zoos that puts shame on their North American counterparts.
 
I have an impression that Asian zoos and bird parks have even bigger aviaries on average. Alas, they don't need to withstand the weight of falling snow. Or maybe because I saw only few places in Asia.
 
I've seen saddle-billed storks in aviaries in Dallas, Toledo, and Sylvan Heights, lesser-adjutant in an aviary at Racine, and jabiru at an aviary in Belize. There's a lot less focus on crane aviaries, presumably because they are more terrestrial by nature. I feel like the crowned-cranes, at least, might breed better in aviaries, since they naturally nest in trees instead of the ground.

It's interesting that so many US zoos build aviaries for their condors, whereas so many African vultures get clipped and dumped in hoofstock exhibits. The few African vulture aviaries I've seen have been great.

One thing I would love to see is a good secretarybird aviary. I know that they don't fly too much in the wild, but in Tanzania I watched a pair working on their nest on top of a good-sized tree, and seeing one of those guys in flight is beautiful.
 
Omaha keeps fully-flighted flamingos and other large birds in the netted Simmons Aviary. Toledo also keeps fully-flighted flamingos but they're exhibit does not offer enough room for the flamingos to actually fly (whereas Omaha's does).
 
I know there's been some arguments as to whether keeping large species like flamingos, cranes, and large storks free-flighted in aviaries is actually better. Primarily on the grounds that many such aviaries do not have sufficient space for large, gangly birds to fly without them crashing into barriers or exhibit furniture. I believe there has been several fatalities that have occurred due to that sort of issue. However plenty of zoos do it without a problem, it would be good for more research to be done in that area.
 
I wish there was a way for zoos to keep storks and vultures in open air exhibits. It would be rather expensive, but they could just net over the enclosures for some of these birds.
 
Bengal Tiger said:
I wish there was a way for zoos to keep storks and vultures in open air exhibits. It would be rather expensive, but they could just net over the enclosures for some of these birds.
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The majority of storks and vultures are kept in open air exhibits? I've seen many large netted exhibits for birds of prey particularly, as well as storks and others. Not sure what you're getting at here.
 
Great Argus said:
The majority of storks and vultures are kept in open air exhibits? I've seen many large netted exhibits for birds of prey particularly, as well as storks and others. Not sure what you're getting at here.
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Most zoos I go to have open exhibits, at least in my memory. I haven’t been to as many zoos as a lot of people here as I am just a teen.
 
No, more along the lines of the saddle backed stork exhibit in Nashville or the new grey crowned crane exhibit in scovill.
 
I think Marabous and Adjutants could be kept in walk-through aviaries like in the Snavelrijk at DierenPark Amersfoort. They're not as aggressive or territorial as Saddlebills, Black-Necks and Jabirus. From the footage I've seen they're naturally very curious. Also they can be housed with other smaller species with no ill effects as long as they're adequately fed. When I was at the Alligator Farm in May 2020, one of the two males at the time Newman was very curious about my shoes (FFW to 32:45 in this vid). I would've taken one off to show to him if it was a walk through but his exhibit is a 6 ft high fence with plexiglass panels spread throughout to see the birds close up. I think having large flighted aviaries would help propagate them and other species like vultures which are declining in Africa, especially the Cape. I think an African scavenging aviary would be great and a unique spectacle for visitors to view. Having large waders like these free flighted helps improve the chances of successful fertilization as I have read that a problem with Saddlebills is pinioned males have a hard time of mounting the females and thus its harder to get viable embryos in the eggs. Lesser Adjutants seem to be chill as well (even around small children) and it would be awesome to have a mixed species aviary with them and Milky Storks in a Malayan/Indonesian themed aviary. Currently, Lesser Adjutants are only at Bronx and Racine but I hope more facilities will choose to house this species.

One species I think that could do very well in this type of exhibit are Woolly-Necked Storks. They live in small family groups of up to 5 and could be housed with Hadadas in South African themed aviaries. I'd choose the African species (Ciconia microscelis) over the Asian due to more African birds in the AZA to have them cohabitate with. There would have to imports from South Africa but due to our knowledge of keeping White Storks I think the AZA would do well with them. They also have the added educational aspect of a successful story of a large bird species cohabitating with humans in suburban areas which is an issue that predominantly exists today, why can't most large birds easily adapt to human habitated areas?

For cranes, because they are much more territorial than storks I would say that only Demoiselle's, Crowned's and potentially Stanleys should only be allowed to have in walk-throughs. I know Zoo Miami's Sarus' are a very rare exception. I think they may have been chicks when they were introduced to people back at Crandon Park Zoo. This could explain why they haven't attacked any visitors.

Herons could be ok in large free flights as long as they're not huge like the giant Ardea species (A.goliath, A.sumatrana, A.insignis, A. cocoi, and A.herodias). Agamis, Capped, and Tiger Herons could do well in South American-themed aviaries and they are very beautiful especially Agamis. Some of the exotic Egretta species and smaller Ardea herons such as A.melanocephala and A.pacifica could help enhance African and Oceanic themed aviaries as well.

Lastly, maybe these big birds aren't in walk throughs because the AZA is worried that people will automatically sue a zoo if one of these big birds pecks someone? I've learned that usually a big bird's minimum bubble is the length of the bird's neck and bill fully outstretched. If you violate that you are asking for trouble. A White Pelican at the Sunset Zoo would be this way. Perhaps he is just an angry old bird? Sometimes birds, in general, are ust curious and they aren't out to peck violently at you and they just want friendly physical contact like this Asian Woolly Necked Stork at Zoo Berlin who just wanted to groom the person filming it. Either way, there's nothing like big birds in free flight aviaries!
 
Great Argus said:
I know there's been some arguments as to whether keeping large species like flamingos, cranes, and large storks free-flighted in aviaries is actually better. Primarily on the grounds that many such aviaries do not have sufficient space for large, gangly birds to fly without them crashing into barriers or exhibit furniture. I believe there has been several fatalities that have occurred due to that sort of issue. However plenty of zoos do it without a problem, it would be good for more research to be done in that area.
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I have read that with these larger birds - especially flamingos - pinioning or wing clipping is suspected to be a cause of infertility, as they are "unbalanced" when mating.
 
Aardwolf said:
One thing I would love to see is a good secretarybird aviary. I know that they don't fly too much in the wild, but in Tanzania I watched a pair working on their nest on top of a good-sized tree, and seeing one of those guys in flight is beautiful.
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Münster keeps ther secetary birds in a big aviary, together with griffen vultures and cinereous vultures. Avifauna keeps them together with hammerkops and a few other bids I don'T remeber in a large aviary aswell
 
Bengal Tiger said:
I wish there was a way for zoos to keep storks and vultures in open air exhibits. It would be rather expensive, but they could just net over the enclosures for some of these birds.
Click to expand...
Rheine Keeps a huge withe stork colony in a exhibit. Many of espicialy the older birds are pinned, but you will see dozents of storks fly all the time, and all the old oaks are filled with stork nests
 
Sarus Crane said:
Lastly, maybe these big birds aren't in walk throughs because the AZA is worried that people will automatically sue a zoo if one of these big birds pecks someone? I've learned that usually a big bird's minimum bubble is the length of the bird's neck and bill fully outstretched. If you violate that you are asking for trouble. A White Pelican at the Sunset Zoo would be this way. Perhaps he is just an angry old bird? Sometimes birds, in general, are ust curious and they aren't out to peck violently at you and they just want friendly physical contact like this Asian Woolly Necked Stork at Zoo Berlin who just wanted to groom the person filming it. Either way, there's nothing like big birds in free flight aviaries!
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This is likely one of the biggest reasons why large storks, large herons, and cranes are often not kept as walk-in aviary birds: they are capable of doing serious damage with the sword-like bill. There are stories of Saddle-bills and Marabou slicing to the bone in a single lunge. These come from keepers who had to catch up the birds, but that happening to a guest would be a pretty ugly situation.

Zoovolunteer said:
I have read that with these larger birds - especially flamingos - pinioning or wing clipping is suspected to be a cause of infertility, as they are "unbalanced" when mating.
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This is indeed increasingly suspected/proved, and for many species it is recommended that they be kept unpinioned.
 
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