Largest Avaries in Australia and New Zealand?

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I guess this thread is inspired by the one posted in the UK section. Does anyone know where the biggest aviaries (walk-through or not) are in Australia and New Zealand? My first thoughts were the Great Flight Aviary at Melbourne Zoo and the Woolemi Aviary at Taronga but a lot of the smaller wildlife parks might surprise us. Kyabram Fauna Park has a fantastic bushland aviary for parrots, pigeons, and a few other birds and Adelaide Zoo has some smaller aviaries in their Asian section but they definitely aren't the biggest. I really have no idea about New Zealand so I'll be interested to find out.
So does anyone have any idea of where the biggest is found or other examples of great aviaries in unexpected places?
 
Healesville's Lyrebird Forest is bigger than either, I reckon. Flying High Bird Habitat and Birdworld Kuranda might be contenders that I haven't been to.
 
Wow I completely forget about Healesville Sanctuary. I did a little mental run through of the zoos I've been to and that slipped my mind. Another great Healesville example is the wetlands aviary. And that reminded me of Melbourne Museum's Forest Gallery and the huge walk-through aviary at Currumbin Sanctuary. I was only about 10 when I visited so maybe my mind is exaggerating the size.
 
Hamilton Zoo's native freeflight walkthrough aviary is the largest in NZ, and I think it reaches 17m high. It was touted as the largest aviary in the southern hemisphere when it opened in 1997.

Auckland Zoo also has a large walkthrough aviary for natives, although considerably smaller than Hamilton's.
 
zooboy28 said:
Hamilton Zoo's native freeflight walkthrough aviary is the largest in NZ, and I think it reaches 17m high. It was touted as the largest aviary in the southern hemisphere when it opened in 1997.

Auckland Zoo also has a large walkthrough aviary for natives, although considerably smaller than Hamilton's.
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Auckland, Hamilton and Orana have all claimed their walk-through aviaries as the largest in New Zealand. I don't know the actual dimensions of any of them though.
 
Chlidonias said:
Auckland, Hamilton and Orana have all claimed their walk-through aviaries as the largest in New Zealand. I don't know the actual dimensions of any of them though.
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I think Hamilton's and Auckland's are bigger than Orana (Well it at least seemed that way).

Otorohonga Kiwi House also has a decent size walkthrough
 
I'm probably going to annoy some people with this statement... but if a zoo does not have a good walk-through aviary I tend to view it as incomplete.
 
The Rainforest Aviary at Currumbin is absolutely enormous and would be comparable to Melbourne's Great flight Aviary (and possibly bigger). Both are larger than Taronga's Wollemi, both in height and area. I'm fairly certain they're both bigger than Healesville's Lyrebird Forest.

Other walkthroughs that I've enjoyed (but certainly aren't the biggest) is the one at Wagga Wagga Zoo, and those at Cleland.

:p

Hix
 
Wollemai is definitely not the biggest. I've tried to figure out a few times what is larger out of Lyrebird Forest and Great Flight Aviary, and am always defeated by thee very different shapes. GFA is longer but narrower, and I suspect a bit lower except for the dome section.

If Flying High is really 2 acres (0.8 hectares) in size it's hard to imagine there could be a bigger one in Australia. I'm surprised that Birdworld is not advertised as half an acre in size. I always imagined it to be much larger.

Following from what Hix says, whilst big is good it is not automatically the best. My favourite overall is probably GFA due to the range of species on display. But I think the best I have seen is the Wetlands at Healesville.
 
Hix said:
Other walkthroughs that I've enjoyed (but certainly aren't the biggest) is the one at Wagga Wagga Zoo, and those at Cleland.

:p

Hix
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The Wagga one is good and some species are hard to spot. I have only seen the Whistling ducks once and am yet to see the Mandarin Ducks.
 
CGSwans said:
If Flying High is really 2 acres (0.8 hectares) in size it's hard to imagine there could be a bigger one in Australia. I'm surprised that Birdworld is not advertised as half an acre in size. I always imagined it to be much larger.
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on that other thread Flying High said 2 acres, but I just looked at their website where it says 5000 square metres which equals 1.2 acres.
 
Hamilton Zoo's freeflight aviary is the biggest in NZ, with Auckland's the second largest, and then Orana and Otorohanga (not sure which is larger, would guess Otorohanga, as I don't remember Orana's being particularly large). Otorohanga's website states that their aviary was the largest in Australasia when built in 1986 (possibly usurping Orana?), and remains the largest dome aviary in NZ. Auckland's native walkthrough aviary would have become the largest aviary in NZ when it opened in 1992, and Hamilton would have taken the title in 1997 (and still hold it).

Here is a zoolex description of Hamilton's aviary (ZooLex Exhibit), which reaches 17m tall, covers 3500m, and includes 140m of visitor paths.
 
zooboy28 said:
Hamilton Zoo's freeflight aviary is the biggest in NZ, with Auckland's the second largest, and then Orana and Otorohanga (not sure which is larger, would guess Otorohanga, as I don't remember Orana's being particularly large). Otorohanga's website states that their aviary was the largest in Australasia when built in 1986 (possibly usurping Orana?), and remains the largest dome aviary in NZ. Auckland's native walkthrough aviary would have become the largest aviary in NZ when it opened in 1992, and Hamilton would have taken the title in 1997 (and still hold it).

Here is a zoolex description of Hamilton's aviary (ZooLex Exhibit), which reaches 17m tall, covers 3500m, and includes 140m of visitor paths.
Click to expand...
Orana opened their one in 1995 I think (may have been 1994?). They were claiming it as the largest in NZ (in fact a few years ago I heard the commentary on the park shuttle saying it was the largest in the world!!). If Auckland's is larger then it was obviously wishful thinking on Orana's part that they had a larger one because it was definitely constructed after Auckland's one. At that time of course Hamilton's wasn't built yet.

(I was working at Orana in 1995 I think it was and the aviary was new then, which is why I figure either that year or the previous one was the year it was opened. I still have a newspaper clipping from the time about the aviary, but it's hoarded away with everything else in boxes so I can't get it at the moment to check the date).
 
I know it's not ideal, but using the scale on google maps The Great Flight Aviary in Melbourne looks around 130metres long, and 12-15 metres wide (although the dome at the end is around 20metres diameter. Makes it about 1965sqm.

The Rainforest Aviary at Currumbin is about 55m x 45m = 2475sqm. However, that's the approximate size of the roof - the aviary is built on a steepish slope, so the ground area is greater than that.

Also, a document on thier website states the aviary is 28metres high at it's highest point (taller than a ten story building) and when it was constructed in 1988 was the largest aviary in the southern hemisphere (but they conveniently don't clarify if that was height or area).

:p

Hix
 
zooboy28 said:
Auckland's native walkthrough aviary would have become the largest aviary in NZ when it opened in 1992
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I've just been looking at the list of Auckland Zoo's structures and the years they were built, and it says the "New Zealand aviary" (which I assume is this one?) was built in 1984. I know it was closed at some point for refurbishment, so was the 1992 date you give that date of re-opening perhaps? Or am I talking about a different aviary?

The list is on here (scroll all the way to near the bottom, to Appendix 3); it's very interesting (lots of 1922 buildings on there): http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/council/documents/assetmanagementplan/docs/aucklandzooamp2009.pdf
 
Chlidonias said:
I've just been looking at the list of Auckland Zoo's structures and the years they were built, and it says the "New Zealand aviary" (which I assume is this one?) was built in 1984. I know it was closed at some point for refurbishment, so was the 1992 date you give that date of re-opening perhaps? Or am I talking about a different aviary?

The list is on here (scroll all the way to near the bottom, to Appendix 3); it's very interesting (lots of 1922 buildings on there): http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/council/documents/assetmanagementplan/docs/aucklandzooamp2009.pdf
Click to expand...

Oooh, that is very interesting :D, cheers for that.

That is the aviary we are talking about (closed from 2005/6-ish to 2011, and now The Forest in Te Wao Nui), as I checked the designation (WE7) against an anclosure map I have. According to the Tiger by the Tail book, this aviary was being constructed for completion in 1992. The book does not suggest that it is replacing or renovating anything, in fact it seems to suggest that the aviary was built into the bush, which is what I had believed. The 1980s map of Auckland Zoo does not show any enclosure at all in the location of this aviary (opposite the hippos and immediately to the right of the big bridge). Older maps show this area holding Sarus Cranes in 1958, and Ostrich in 1979, and as not having any enclosure in 1924.

However, this photo from 1928 (http://www.zoochat.com/14/auckland-zoo-view-1928-a-222193/) shows an aviary in the same location, with a bird paddock (at the time holding ostrich, in front). So, maybe there was a smaller aviary for native birds here, which replaced the aviary present in 1928 (or at least occupied the same site) which was built in 1984?

So, in short, I don't know why the Auckland Zoo asset plan lists it as being constructed in 1984. Another puzzle!
 
zooboy28 said:
Oooh, that is very interesting :D, cheers for that.

That is the aviary we are talking about (closed from 2005/6-ish to 2011, and now The Forest in Te Wao Nui), as I checked the designation (WE7) against an anclosure map I have. According to the Tiger by the Tail book, this aviary was being constructed for completion in 1992. The book does not suggest that it is replacing or renovating anything, in fact it seems to suggest that the aviary was built into the bush, which is what I had believed. The 1980s map of Auckland Zoo does not show any enclosure at all in the location of this aviary (opposite the hippos and immediately to the right of the big bridge). Older maps show this area holding Sarus Cranes in 1958, and Ostrich in 1979, and as not having any enclosure in 1924.

So, in short, I don't know why the Auckland Zoo asset plan lists it as being constructed in 1984. Another puzzle!
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I thought you'd like the link :D

For what it's worth, I have been told by someone involved in the research field (vague reference I know) that there are a lot of errors in Tiger By The Tail. Personally I'd trust the asset document dates. But, on the other hand, the zoo's own website says for 1992: "The New Zealand Aviary opens - a free-flight aviary and bush walk featuring NZ native species."

Another Hardy Boys mystery? :D
 
Chlidonias said:
I thought you'd like the link :D

For what it's worth, I have been told by someone involved in the research field (vague reference I know) that there are a lot of errors in Tiger By The Tail. Personally I'd trust the asset document dates. But, on the other hand, the zoo's own website says for 1992: "The New Zealand Aviary opens - a free-flight aviary and bush walk featuring NZ native species."

Another Hardy Boys mystery? :D
Click to expand...

Yes, and the book said it was still being constructed,and showed a photo of the construction, so it would be pretty difficult for someone to stuff that up (given the book was published in 1992).
 
If we wanted to clutch at straws we could surmise that construction started in 1984 and they had really lazy workmen so it took eight years to complete it! :D
 
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