GaiaZOO Kerkrade GaiaPark Kerkrade Zoo

Visited GaiaZoo for the first time today, and I'm happy (or sad) to report all sorts of news!

- Western cattle egrets in the flamingo aviary have laid a whole bunch of eggs (At least 12)

- The flamingos in the flamingo aviary are now up to 510, and have also laid eggs

- Also in the flamingo aviary, the small walkthrough part in Safari lodge was closed because some birds were nesting there too

- New birds in the flamingo aviary (Most moved in from Taiga aviary): Demoiselle crane, Tufted duck, Northern shoveler, Knob-billed duck

- The taiga aviary is currently only a large group of poles, the owl aviary is a bunch of poles with netting around it, but not yet on top

- The pampas enclosure is now completely finished, and the map says the rhea's have now moved in. I can't say this for sure however, because the monkey island was (sadly) closed and I didn't see the rhea's in the pampas enclosure either

- A small mesh tunnel aviary near Jungle trail is now completely empty (Formerly a squirrel enclosure, according to my cousin, who lives close by. But she hadn't been there for a few years either)

I'm sure I'll remember other things later so I'll probably send more updates later today
 
KevinB said:
An update by the park. The damage, given the circumstances, luckily turns out to not be too bad. Park staff worked hard to make the park accessible to visitors again and succeeded in doing so, aside from the marshy area near the bush dog exhibit. The zoo will reopen tomorrow.

GaiaZOO
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The bridge next to the bush dogs has another bridge sort of built over it (now sure how to explain it), you can walk over it but you can't get very close to the Bush dog enclosure
 
Mr Gharial said:
The bridge next to the bush dogs has another bridge sort of built over it (now sure how to explain it), you can walk over it but you can't get very close to the Bush dog enclosure
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This area was always a wet area, with the water level only just below the visitor bridge. So I guess the water probably hasn't drained sufficiently to allow normal access to the area.

Building a temporary walkway over it is a good temporary solution.
 
KevinB said:
This area was always a wet area, with the water level only just below the visitor bridge. So I guess the water probably hasn't drained sufficiently to allow normal access to the area.
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The water was below the usual bridge, but it the wood seemed rotten and covered in algae (I assume also slippery)
 
Other things I just remembered:

I saw all the birds in the Vreemde vogels aviary, apart from the two ibises. Which isn't really news, but it is odd, as ibises are usually rather easy to spot. Maybe they are behind the scenes?

Also didn't spot any greater kudu's in the savannah enclosure, not in the separation enclosure either

The green anaconda in the terrarium house near the tapirs is either gone or behind the scenes (Signage is also gone)

The bridge that leads to the upper path in Puna aviary is gone, probably because of corona

The red-legged seriema wasn't in the aviary outside the monkey island, but the red howlers were (Monkey island was closed, so I couldn't check if they were free-roaming or in another spot)

Southern bald ibises and Hamerkops were also nesting in the flamingo aviary (though I didn't see any eggs)
 
Mr Gharial said:
Visited GaiaZoo for the first time today, and I'm happy (or sad) to report all sorts of news!
- The taiga aviary is currently only a large group of poles, the owl aviary is a bunch of poles with netting around it, but not yet on top
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I visited GaiaZoo a few days prior to your visit. I noticed a sign at the former owl aviary stating that the avairy won't be rebuild and that the area (of the aviary) will be added to the wolf enclosure in autumn of this year. The taiga aviary is expected to be rebuild around the end of the year according to a sign at the aviary.
 
JurassicMax said:
I visited GaiaZoo a few days prior to your visit. I noticed a sign at the former owl aviary stating that the avairy won't be rebuild and that the area (of the aviary) will be added to the wolf enclosure in autumn of this year. The taiga aviary is expected to be rebuild around the end of the year according to a sign at the aviary.
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Well, that's a real shame. I've never seen ravens in real life and was hoping that my recent visit would be the first time. It looked like a pretty cool aviary as well
 
Mr Gharial said:
Well, that's a real shame. I've never seen ravens in real life and was hoping that my recent visit would be the first time. It looked like a pretty cool aviary as well
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Indeed, I forgot to mention that maybe a new aviary will be constructed somewhere in the zoo to house the Eurasian eagle-owls (not sure about the other species). But they aren't sure whether this will actually happen.
 
Some news from the Dutch zoo magazine "De Harpij":

- In the flamingo aviary about 100 flamingos were born this breeding season.
- The 2019 lion twins have moved to other zoos. The male went to Dortmund and the female to Ölands Djurpark in Sweden.
- Recently, several European hamsters and garden dormice have been released into the wild or relocated to Tallinn Zoo in Estonia.
 
MennoPebesma said:
- In the flamingo aviary about 100 flamingos were born this breeding season.
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Wow. In this tempo, European zoos will soon get drowned in tsunami of Greater flamingos :) . This is great result.

But it would be nice too if other species also got their champion producing three-digit per season. For example European zoo population of Chileans is getting aged and would need similar boost.
 
GaiaZOO has started the reconstruction of the Taiga aviary. Unlike the former Taiga aviary, this will not be a walk-through aviary. In the future, visitors will be able to watch the birds from an observation hut and a covered path around the aviary. This is to ensure that the birds can always be seen, even during periods when avian flu is present.

The new design for the aviary can be seen on the GaiaZOO website: BouwDagBoek 2022 - GaiaZOO
 
MennoPebesma said:
GaiaZOO has started the reconstruction of the Taiga aviary. Unlike the former Taiga aviary, this will not be a walk-through aviary. In the future, visitors will be able to watch the birds from an observation hut and a covered path around the aviary. This is to ensure that the birds can always be seen, even during periods when avian flu is present.

The new design for the aviary can be seen on the GaiaZOO website: BouwDagBoek 2022 - GaiaZOO
Click to expand...
What birds lived In the old taiga aviary?
 
Platypusboy said:
What birds lived In the old taiga aviary?
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According to Zootierliste the following birds lived in the former Taiga aviary:

- Azure-winged magpie (Cyanopica cyanus cyanus)
- Baer's pochard (Aythya baeri)
- Baikal teal (Sibirionetta formosa)
- Cheer pheasant (Catreus wallichii)
- Common hoopoe (Upupa epops)
- Common redshank (Tringa totanus)
- Demoiselle crane (Anthropoides virgo)
- Eurasian black vulture (Aegypius monachus)
- Eurasian Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus)
- European roller (Coracias garrulus)
- European thick-knee (Burhinus oedicnemus oedicnemus)
- European Turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur turtur)
- Glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus)
- Marbled teal (Marmaronetta angustirostris)
- Northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita)
- Northern shoveler (Spatula clypeata)
- Pied avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)
- Red-breasted goose (Branta ruficollis)
- Rock pigeon (Columba livia)
- Scaly-sided merganser (Mergus squamatus)
- Western Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus percnopterus)
- Western eurasian griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus fulvus)
- White-headed duck (Oxyura leucocephala)

A number of these species are currently behind the scenes, others have been placed in other aviaries within GaiaZOO. In addition, a number of species have also been (temporarily) moved to other zoos.
 
MennoPebesma said:
GaiaZOO has started the reconstruction of the Taiga aviary. Unlike the former Taiga aviary, this will not be a walk-through aviary. In the future, visitors will be able to watch the birds from an observation hut and a covered path around the aviary. This is to ensure that the birds can always be seen, even during periods when avian flu is present.

The new design for the aviary can be seen on the GaiaZOO website: BouwDagBoek 2022 - GaiaZOO
Click to expand...

There will be a new entrance building too as it is written at the bottom of the page.
 
MennoPebesma said:
GaiaZOO has started the reconstruction of the Taiga aviary. Unlike the former Taiga aviary, this will not be a walk-through aviary. In the future, visitors will be able to watch the birds from an observation hut and a covered path around the aviary. This is to ensure that the birds can always be seen, even during periods when avian flu is present.

The new design for the aviary can be seen on the GaiaZOO website: BouwDagBoek 2022 - GaiaZOO
Click to expand...

Personally I find it a little odd that things seem to be looked at bit differently between Belgium and the Netherlands - in Belgium walk-through aviaries are allowed to remain open duing avian flu periods.
 
MennoPebesma said:
GaiaZOO has started the reconstruction of the Taiga aviary. Unlike the former Taiga aviary, this will not be a walk-through aviary. In the future, visitors will be able to watch the birds from an observation hut and a covered path around the aviary. This is to ensure that the birds can always be seen, even during periods when avian flu is present.

The new design for the aviary can be seen on the GaiaZOO website: BouwDagBoek 2022 - GaiaZOO
Click to expand...
Regrettable, it was definitely 1 of the nicer and better walk-through aviaries I've seen.
 
- Gaiazoo has recieved a Jamaican boa in the Tropical terrarium, as well as six Guadeloupean anolises (held in the same enclosure) from Burgers' zoo , which are already breeding

- During the lockdown GAIAzoo has decided to re-do all of the wooden walkways near the capuchin monkeys, these are expected to be done in a few days

- The Taiga aviary is expected to reopen in April

- The entrance area is being rebuilt. So there's a temporary entrance/exit area elsewhere
 
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