As I've said before it is not just about THESE Hippos and yes the armband was a joke really
ZSL Whipsnade Zoo ZSL Whipsnade Zoo News 2025
- Thread starter Lafone
- Start date
Yes.
Dr. Loxodonta
Well-Known Member
Sounds like the bird show will be truly full on, I understand it to be in the following arrangement?
- Firstly, 1.0 Bateleur Eagle (Terathopius ecaudatus) named Bruno.
- Next, 1.1 Red billed hornbills (Tockus erythrorhynchus), Marley (Male) and Guinea (Female).
- Followed by 2.0 Great Grey Owls (Strix nebulosa), Gandalf and Bilbo.
- Then, a Singular Red-crested Turaco (Tauraco erythrolophus) and Red-billed Blue Magpie (Urocissa erythroryncha) alongside the 3 Visayan Tarictic Hornbill (Penelopides panini panini) and now what will eventually be 3 African Greys (Psittacus erithacus).
- Lastly, 1.1 Hyacinth (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus), 2.1 Blue-throated (Ara glaucogularis), 0.1 Military (Ara militaris), and 3 Scarlet Macaws (Ara macao).
It actually varies a bit more than that. The last two bullets are the finale to every show, but the first 3 are usually only done in one show a day. Other birds which are flown are:
- 3 laughing kookaburra (all female, despite one being called Bruce)
- a burrowing owl called Hetty (female)
- a pied crow called Dolly (but is actually male) (although the last time I saw her in a show, he vanished up a tree in the farmyard and took over 30 mins to come down, resulting in the rest of the show being cancelled)
- a buzzard eagle (male, but can't remember his name)
- a Harris hawk (male, called Diego I think, although I think a new one has replaced him this season)
- 2 Lanner falcons (both male, Lenny and Leroy), usually flown in different shows. One demonstrates a stoop, the other demonstrates circling prey
I thought we'd got it nailed as to which birds flew in which display, but the kookaburras were in the 1.30pm today when usually they're in the 11.15am only (weekends and holidays only).
Dr. Loxodonta
Well-Known Member
Oh, that’s interesting, that’s for the correction @JoB198. I mean, the more the merrier, especially with such a mix of species.
They've also got 2 sea eagles off-show which they are trying to train for the show; it may not happen, but they're seeing what they can do.
Dr. Loxodonta
Well-Known Member
Is that their pair of African Sea Eagles? If so, it would be quite a show!
Yes, you can just see them in their big aviary across the bird garden if they're in the right spot.
Lafone
Well-Known Member
They flew two Harris Hawks together in the afternoon show when I was there the other day. The Red Billed Blue Magpie was being flown alone to then join the finale. And the Visyan Tarictic Hornbills have flown both in the close out with the other birds and separately. As you say they fly different birds in different shows so it's worth going to all of them if birds are a thing, they mix the order up.
I think they've had problems with the Red Billed Blue Magpie as they took it out the finale a few weeks ago, then at the end of a show a couple of weeks ago they said they were flying another bird and one of the team held up a little perch in the arena to get it to fly to it. Today, the bird was flown in the finale (flying from its aviary) but the team member was again out with the perch. Then the bird flew off to its aviary again, which wasn't what they were asking it to do
Two Harris Hawks is nice though. I think I've seen two, but on separate occasions.
Lafone
Well-Known Member
Speaking of Bluetongue it might be restrictions around that that are keeping PTA closed, given the ongoing vet care signs and the fact the Whipsnade area is in the red zone. Not that the herd would have it and it seems highly unlikely to impact anything in regard to PTA but perhaps there are some sort of quarantine measures going on. The Banteng have been in the area a while so it seems no reason in terms of their introduction for it to be closed ongoing (though perhaps they just really hate cars!). The DEFRA rules on Bluetongue movements are changing on 1st July though to be country wide vs specific so perhaps we might see a change around then.
Lafone
Well-Known Member
I think they've had problems with the Red Billed Blue Magpie as they took it out the finale a few weeks ago, then at the end of a show a couple of weeks ago they said they were flying another bird and one of the team held up a little perch in the arena to get it to fly to it. Today, the bird was flown in the finale (flying from its aviary) but the team member was again out with the perch. Then the bird flew off to its aviary again, which wasn't what they were asking it to do
Two Harris Hawks is nice though. I think I've seen two, but on separate occasions.
I think the Magpie is a young bird (he's one of the two who we've been able to see as growing juveniles in the aviary which is fun) and they obviously work hard to get them to move about though if they want to do something else they can I guess. I like watching the birds in training, it's an interesting insight into how hard the bird team work.
Burribro
Member
I regularly try to hit all the shows, my favourite being the 1.30 with the stopping lanner (Lenny I think) but they tend to have the names of the birds flying on the whiteboard on the side of the van.
Sacchi
Well-Known Member
You could try looking up coach tours. I live near the New Forest, and several local coach companies offer regular trips to Longleat (and a few other zoos). You stay on the coach and it goes around the zoo (minus the monkey enclosure, for obvious reasons).
ZooNews2024
Well-Known Member
Yes, animal movements and imports especially are stopped by the Government (DEFRA/APHA) with no obvious logic.
Once a 'zone' is affected, animals movements within it are (logically!) permitted under licence, as the disease status cannot be worsened - but, this is not the case with imports.
An example would be that the south of England and France are both in the same 'zone' for the same variant. Movements between Kent and Sussex would then be permitted, but movements between France and the UK wouldn't. Bizarre?
Thank you for this update , some very interesting pieces of news here and certainly alot I didn't know, shame they don't seem to have any plans to breed the sitatunga as they used to have quite a few and are an amazing looking species.
Plus being semi-aquatic, Sitatunga have interesting behaviour too. But a lot of places don't seem to make the most of this, with limited or no access to the water, let alone deep enough for them to swim.
Yeah, we thought 1.30 would be the stoop, but yesterday it was the kookaburras. My only explanation for it was that Mr Maker put in an appearance and the kookaburras are more 'comedy' (and I suspect less sensitive than some of the other birds if there's somebody new in the arena).
I rarely see the whiteboard on the side of the van as we are seated before it arrives - we like our pick of the views!
The impression I got was that they'd like to be breeding the sitatunga, but the bongo are the current priority. I didn't realise how endangered the mountain bongos are - only 70 left in the wild!
I was a bit confused about this as virtually all zoos with Bongo make this same statement (or less than 100) but it seems virtually all Bongo in captivity actually are this subspecies.