Last week I finally had the opportunity to visit visit the Wilhelma again after previous visits in 2014 and 2016. This was my first weather that combined proper spring/summer and gorgeous weather, which meant I finally got to enjoy the gardens to their fullest. And there really is a lot to enjoy here. The Wilhelma is a zoological - botanical garden and it is that for a reason. Not only does it hold a dizzying array of plants, but the skill of the gardeners is very high.
One of the main reasons to visit was to see the new small mammal and bird house, which replaced an earlier build that closed in 2015. I had seen it in 2014 and while the species line-up was more than attractive, the enclosures were anything but. They were mostly functional and showed its age of nearly 50 years. After closure the old house was demolished and a new greenhouse was set to appear in its place. Even though this greenhouse was planned to be only several hundred square metres in size, construction took no less than 7 years! The question is, was it worth the wait?
The house itself is neatly divided in a smaller arid area and a larger rainforest area in terms of vegetation and species. The entrance is somewhat hidden in one of the many historic greenhouses, but upon entry the arid zone is on the right:
And the rainforest zone on the left
At first sight this is an extremely typical Wilhelma style house, with an (in my opinion very attractive) mix of modern clean design with copious vegetation.
Opposite the entrance lies the first aviary
For a single king bird of paradise (
Ciccinurus regia; 7 European holders), a pair of Rose-crowned fruit doves (
Ptilinopus regina; 4 European holders) and collared partridge (
Arborophila gingica; 29 European holders). As typical for the house, the aviary is beautifully planted, but not exactly large.
Immediately to the right is a smaller aviary, somewhat hidden in the vegetation for a pair of African pygmy falcons (
Polihierax semitorquatus; 14 European holders).
And opposite (immediately to the right of the entrance) lies a small aviary for a single greater roadrunner (
Geococcyx californianus; 7 European holders). The small rocks have terraria for a tarantula and a king snake. You can see the bird for scale on the top right. While attractive as an exhibit, it is extremely small and I am surprised they would put such a large and active bird in such a tiny cage. Why not put some attractive small passerines in.
The largest aviary in the arid zone is home to a mix of African bird species, but is again too small for its largest inhabitants and too open for its shiest birds. Here live Black-bellied sandgrouse (
Pterocles orientalis; 4 European holders), European bee-eater (
Merops apiaster; 21 European holders), European hoopoe (
Upupa epops epops; 24 European holders), black crake (
Zapornia flavirostra; 14 European holders), chestnut-and-black weaver (
Ploceus castaneofuscus; 7 European holders) and Sudan golden-sparrow (
Passer luteus; 8 European holders).
Between this aviary and the falcon aviary lies another small aviary, with a very attractive line-up:
It is home to harlequin quail (
Coturnix delegorguei; 21 European holders), Kittlitz' plover (
Charadrius pecuarius; 2 European holders), purple grenadier (
Granatina ianthinogaster; 4 European holders), black-and-white munia (
Spermestes bicolor poensis; 1 European holder), orange-breasted waxbill (
Amandava subflava; 12 European holders) and variable sunbird (
Cinnyris venustus falkensteini; 1 European holder (at ssp level).
The final enclosure in the arid zone holds the first mammal, tucked between the roadrunner and bee-eater aviary lies a naked mole-rat exhibit.
The first exhibit of the rainforest zone is for northern treeshrews (
Tupaia belangeri), again not particularly large, but well-structured.
In the middle of the rainforest area stands a tiny aviary that held an amazillia hummingbird when opening, but why one would display such a fragile bird with so little cover is beyond me. It has quickly been replaced by a red-legged honeycreeper (
Cyanerpes cyaneus; 22 European holdings), for which it is not optimal either.
A larger aviary holds a variety of SE-Asian tropical bird species and at the opening a lesser mousedeer too. The mousedeer is already gone, but the birds are still in there. The line-up is less exquisite than in the arid zone though with superb fruit dove (
Ptilinopus superbus; 15 European holdings), crested wood partridge (
Rollulus roulroul; 175 European holdings), white-rumped shama (
Copsychus malabaricus; 50 European holdings), red-whiskered bulbul (
Pycocnotus jocosus; 60 European holdings) and Java sparrows (
Padda oryzivora; 150 European holdings).
At the end of the house there are two showcases with a large number of carnivorous plants, the left one showing a large variety of pitcher plants and other arboreal species.
The right one is dominated by
Drosera species and other terrestrial carnivorous species.
The largest exhibit are two cages that are currently connected, holding southern tamandua (
Tamandua tetradactyla) and big hairy armadillo (
Chaetophractus villosus).
Overall this house is rather interesting, but while it holds a large variety of (rarely seen) smaller birds, the mammal collection is lacking, with currently only 4 species on display. Why a small mammal house does not also have space for more than one rodent is surprising to me.
The main disappointment is the enclosure size though, there isn't a single exhibit that could be described as spacious and most are on the small side, if not clearly too small. Especially for the larger bird species this is particularly disappointing. Despite the beautiful, yet simple, design this house doesn't really deliver its full potential.
More enclosure and overview pictures from my visit can be found here:
Wilhelma Zoo - ZooChat
