Birds collections

N

NOTRIK

Member
I have just become a new member of this site and have a very big interest in our feathered friends so could you help by letting me know which UK collection as the best Bird exhibits and best collection of different species the rarer the better.
I know we have a large group of specialist collections but I would like to know which you think as the best collection of species of birds along with other animal types.
I have been to Chester and have found them to be good but I would not say special asa they only seem to have the same as most specialist collections and nothing really rare but it is still a great collection when you consider the rest of the collection within the same grounds.
Could you please help as I love studying Birds
 
Hello Notrik Welcome to the forum:)
The Best Bird collection's in the UK are probarly Chester and Blackbrook i do not know of any other's unfortuantly expect that South Lakes Wild Animal Park do have some nice Bird species;)
Regards Jordan.
 
Harewood bird garden (near Leeds, West Yorks) is a nice collection in a stunning place, the grounds of Harewood house.

Full list of species

Blue Fronted Amazon
Orange Winged Amazon
African Grey Crowned Crane
Palm Cockatoo
Stanley Crane
Great Curassow
Northern Helmeted curassow
African Yellow Bill Duck
Bahama Pintail
Carolina Wood Duck
Fulvous tree Duck
Hottentot Teal
Laysan Teal
Mandarin Duck
Marbled Teal
Ringed Teal
Sharp Wing Teal
Tufted Duck
Chilean Flamingo
Helmeted Guineafowl
Domestic Chicken
Cochin Chinese Jungle Fowl
Sonnerat’s/Grey Junglefowl
Bar Headed Goose
Egyptian goose
Ross’s snow goose
Blue-Throated Piping Guan
Spix’s Guan
Little Egret
Papuan Wreathed Hornbill
Von der Deckens Hornbill
Waldrapp Ibis
Blue Winged Kookaburra
Goldie’s Lorikeet
Blue Streaked Lory
Peach Faced lovebird
Green winged Macaw
Blue & Gold Macaw
red Billed Blue Pie Magpie
Speckled Mousebird
Ostrich
Eurasian eagle Owl
Snowy Owl
Ural Owls
Blue Throated Conure
Green Cheeked conure
Ring necked parakeet
Superb/Barroband Parakeet
Princess of Wales parrot
Turquoise Parrot
Roul Roul Partridge
Humboldt Penguins
Erckel’s Francolin
Blue Eared Pheasant
Cheer Pheasant
Edward’s pheasant
Great Argus Pheasant
Grey Peacock Pheasant
Himalayan Monal Pheasant
Mountain Peacock Pheasant
Palawan Peacock Pheasant
Reeves Pheasant
Satyre Tragopan
Temminck’s Tragopan
Vietnamese/Vo Quoys Pheasant
Crested Bronzewing Pigeon
Luzon Bleeding Heart Dove
Speckled Pigeon
Omei Shan Liocichla
Red Vented Bul Bul
White crowned Robin Chat
Java Sparrow
Bali Starling
Common Hill Myna
Superb Starlings
White Stork
Black Swan
Red Winged Laughing Thrush
Buffy Laughing Thrush
greater Necklaced Laughing Thrush
Red Billed Toucan
Buffons Touraco
Red Crested Touraco
Violaceous Touraco
 
If you like Birds Blackbrook is a must,also worth considering are Birdland(Bourton-on-the-Water),Birdworld(Farnham),Paignton,Paradise Park(Hayle),Bristol,Lotherton Hall,Harewood House,Cotswold Wildlife Park.
Others which have reasonable collections with the odd rarity are Cotswold Falconry Centre,Weyhill,Exmoor,Hamerton Wildlife Park,Colchester and Twycross.
Un-like Jordon-12 I wouldn`t recommend South Lakes as a bird collection as I`m struggling to think of a single species that cannot be seen in any of the collections that I have mention,which all have a least 1 species that can only be seen in 2 or 3 collections in the UK.
 
jordan-12 said:
I was only recommeding South Lakes because of the huge walk through aviary!
Click to expand...
The walk-in Aviary that you can only go in if it has a member of staff in it and the Andean Condor has been cleared off the walk way,wouldn`t call that a reason to go but then everyone thinks things are worth going for different reason.My list was purely going on the species kept within the collection not on the excellent aviarys that a collection my have!!
 
I would also add Paultons Park to the list - lots of interesting passerines.
 
NOTRIK said:
I know we have a large group of specialist collections but I would like to know which you think as the best collection of species of birds along with other animal types.
I have been to Chester and have found them to be good but I would not say special asa they only seem to have the same as most specialist collections and nothing really rare but it is still a great collection when you consider the rest of the collection within the same grounds.
Could you please help as I love studying Birds
Click to expand...

If you're looking for a good bird collection within a general collection, you'll find it hard to better Chester within the UK, though London and Bristol are very good.

Otherwise the best bird collections are in specialist collections such as Lotherton or Paultons or smaller zoos such as Blackbrook or Cotswold WP - all of these I'd recommend very highly.


As an aside, not sure why you say Chester have no real rarities - their Red Birds of Paradise are unique in Europe and they also have (among others) Cabot's Tragopan, Sumatran Laughingthrush, Brown-breasted Barbet, Writhed Hornbill, pure Visayan Tarictic Hornbill, Timor Sparrow, Red-billed Curassow, Salvadori's Pheasant and Malayan Crestless Fireback - none of which are kept by more than half-a-dozen or so other European zoos.
 
Maguari the bird list you have given me for Chester are common to at least 6 maybe 7 private bird collections within the UK
I know of only one private bird collection that holds the Red Birds Of Paradise though

I too agree that Chester has a great collection of birds but it's not that, it's the rarity of the birds I am looking for.

I have visited 12 private bird collections over the last three years (benefits of the job I do) and found them to be more to the rarer breeds then most zoo or wildlife collections I was just wondering about the rarer birds in the open to the public collections

Birdland (a favourite of mine)
Weyhill,Exmoor & Harewood bird garden will now be on my must visit list for 2011
 
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One of the rarest species in the UK are the Lear's macaws held ( still as far as I know ) at Harewood which have unfortunately never been on display .
 
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