I have been reading a guide to the manakins and cotingas of South and Central America and it occurred to me that aside from a few tanagers, there are probably few if any songbirds from that part of the world to be seen in European zoos at least. Zootierliste has a few zoos with manakins and cotingas like Cock of the Rock, but I doubt there are viable populations. Is it the same in the US? I presume zoos in South America might have more species. Have any of the manakin species been successfully bred?
South American passerines in zoos
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2 Manakin-species have bred succesfully in European zoos and both are still kept at public collections:
Blue ( or Swallow-tailed ) manakin - still kept at Wuppertal and bred there between 1994 and 1994
Blue-backed manankin - still being ket at Vienna and bred there 1999 - 2009 and 2012
In privat collections in Europe also several species have been kept ( and if I'm informed right also bred ).
Last weekend seen 2 species on a Dutch softbill show ( Wire-tailed and Lance-tailed manakin ). Will upload some photos and place them in the Netherlands - other Gallery.
Blue ( or Swallow-tailed ) manakin - still kept at Wuppertal and bred there between 1994 and 1994
Blue-backed manankin - still being ket at Vienna and bred there 1999 - 2009 and 2012
In privat collections in Europe also several species have been kept ( and if I'm informed right also bred ).
Last weekend seen 2 species on a Dutch softbill show ( Wire-tailed and Lance-tailed manakin ). Will upload some photos and place them in the Netherlands - other Gallery.
At the very least, I suspect the population of Spangled Cotinga *is* viable; I believe it is not uncommon in private hands and is also breeding in several public collections.
One or two other cotinga species are breeding in Europe but possibly not at replacement levels; of these I think the species with the best prospects may be the Calfbird as the population is young (deriving from imports from the USA) and as such currently has little die-off, and Walsrode has just achieved a European first breeding of the species.
Another group still being kept in small numbers and in a few species are the Tyrant flycatchers:
Tropical kingbird - only kept at Weltvogelpark Walsrode
Vermillion flycatcher - only kept at Wuppertal and bred there already several times
Greater kiskadee - kept at 6 collections, I've taken care and bred it succesfully at Weltvogelpark Walsrode.
Lesser kiskadee - Bred already several times at Dortmund and Zootierliste mention 3 other collections keeping it. Another zoo not mentioned by Zootierlist but where I've seen and photographed the species a few months ago is Zoo Duisburg ( here one of the several photos I've made there :
?quatorium : Lesser kiskadee | ZooChat
Tropical kingbird - only kept at Weltvogelpark Walsrode
Vermillion flycatcher - only kept at Wuppertal and bred there already several times
Greater kiskadee - kept at 6 collections, I've taken care and bred it succesfully at Weltvogelpark Walsrode.
Lesser kiskadee - Bred already several times at Dortmund and Zootierliste mention 3 other collections keeping it. Another zoo not mentioned by Zootierlist but where I've seen and photographed the species a few months ago is Zoo Duisburg ( here one of the several photos I've made there :
?quatorium : Lesser kiskadee | ZooChat
Dallas World Aquarium has bred quite a lot of cock-of-the-rock. Enough to maintain their own sizable population and send several to other zoos both in the states and in Europe.
Aren't the Walsrode calfbirds part of the cooperation program with Guyana/Suriname (don't remember which)? Same as their Guianan cock-of-the-rock.
In addition to the South/Central American groups mentioned in earlier comments there are also Pacific hornero, various Sporophila seedeaters, blue-black grassquit, warbling finches, cardinals, ultramarine grosbeak, saffron finch, jays, orioles, troupial, caciques, oropendolas and alike. Some of these are likely to disappear from captivity as remaining populations are small with insufficient breeding, but others have sizable and regularly breeding zoo populations and/or are reasonable well-establshed among private keepers.
In my opinion, the South/Central American groups that are most conspicuously absent from zoos are the furnariids and antbirds, today essentially limited to a single species, the Pacific hornero. Sure some from these huge group likely wouldn't do well in captivity (e.g. obligate ant-followers), but others would likely do fine. Species like the great antshrike are actually quite stunning (common and widespread in its native range too) or what about the scimitar-billed woodcreeper, which despite its huge beak has quite a generalist insectivorous diet (should be easy enough to replicate in captivity and locally fairly common in its native range).
Photos for people unfamiliar with those two:
www.hbw.com/ibc/photo/great-antshrike-taraba-major/male-bird-sitting-fence-post
www.hbw.com/ibc/photo/great-antshrike-taraba-major/lateral-view-female-perched-branch
www.hbw.com/ibc/photo/scimitar-billed-woodcreeper-drymornis-bridgesii/hunting-field
Could be; I was under the impression the entire European population derived from imports via Dallas, but I may well have been mistaken.
As is the case for several other South/Central American groups, the largest number of manakins are probaly at Dallas World Aquarium. A bit about them here:
Family Pipridae : Dallas World Aquarium
Their cotingas:
Family Cotingidae : Dallas World Aquarium
Most cotinga groups (genera) that have been kept in captivity in recent decades have been bred, but I suspect the spangled, cock-of-the-rock and calfbird are the only with sufficient population and breeding to maintain them long-term. Although all the Xipholena cotingas have been kept and in the case of the pompadour in reasonable numbers, I suspect they've never been bred (if someone know they have I'd be very interested in hearing about it). Their unusual breeding display flight, which would require a very large enclosure, may well prevent it.
Family Pipridae : Dallas World Aquarium
Their cotingas:
Family Cotingidae : Dallas World Aquarium
Most cotinga groups (genera) that have been kept in captivity in recent decades have been bred, but I suspect the spangled, cock-of-the-rock and calfbird are the only with sufficient population and breeding to maintain them long-term. Although all the Xipholena cotingas have been kept and in the case of the pompadour in reasonable numbers, I suspect they've never been bred (if someone know they have I'd be very interested in hearing about it). Their unusual breeding display flight, which would require a very large enclosure, may well prevent it.
As temp already mentioned, the Blue-backed grassquit ( Volatinia jacarina ) is one of the seed-eating bird-species with still a relative good number in European zoos. At the moment 13 public collections are keeping it and many of them are also breeding them so I guess we will see this species for a longer time in Europe.
Elaborations of cotrs and calfbirds in US:
Guianan cock-of-the-rock: Dallas World Aquarium has recently begun having great success with the species, and they have about 30 behind the scenes (none on exhibit). San Diego keeps 2.2 on exhibit, no breeding success.
Calfbird: the first breeding success was at the San Diego Zoo in the 1990s. That was all, until DWA hatched some in 2011 and now has about 20 on and off exhibit. After that breeding, the program succeed more with a number of hatches each year. This year, SDZ had success for the first time since those original successes with their on-exhibit pair. Bronx and Cincinnati are also holders, with a 1.1 pair and 0.1, respectively.
Andean cock-of-the-rock: DWA is of course the primary proprietor of this species in captivity, breeding them quite well and with over 50 specimens on and off exhibit. There are seven other American holders, all with significantly lower numbers, though. I believe San Diego has recently begun having success, and Bronx is attempting some different strategies to get their pair to breed.
Hope I helped!
Edit: I noticed you also mentioned manakins. A species that DWA doesn't have is the white-bearded manakin. San Diego Zoo is the only holder (as far as I'm aware). They hatched the first two specimens in America in 1998, though today, all that remains is one old female that is off exhibit.
Guianan cock-of-the-rock: Dallas World Aquarium has recently begun having great success with the species, and they have about 30 behind the scenes (none on exhibit). San Diego keeps 2.2 on exhibit, no breeding success.
Calfbird: the first breeding success was at the San Diego Zoo in the 1990s. That was all, until DWA hatched some in 2011 and now has about 20 on and off exhibit. After that breeding, the program succeed more with a number of hatches each year. This year, SDZ had success for the first time since those original successes with their on-exhibit pair. Bronx and Cincinnati are also holders, with a 1.1 pair and 0.1, respectively.
Andean cock-of-the-rock: DWA is of course the primary proprietor of this species in captivity, breeding them quite well and with over 50 specimens on and off exhibit. There are seven other American holders, all with significantly lower numbers, though. I believe San Diego has recently begun having success, and Bronx is attempting some different strategies to get their pair to breed.
Hope I helped!
Edit: I noticed you also mentioned manakins. A species that DWA doesn't have is the white-bearded manakin. San Diego Zoo is the only holder (as far as I'm aware). They hatched the first two specimens in America in 1998, though today, all that remains is one old female that is off exhibit.
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A Dutch privat breeding station ( "Twitter Breeding") just had breeding-succes with the Lance-tailed manakin. Hopefully a larger population can be build up.
Another group of South American birds kept still in good numbers in captivity are the Neotropical species of the genus Carduelis - Siskins.
In privat collections several species are kept and bred in relative good numbers, in public collections only one species is kept at more then 1 collection - at least in Europe.
This species is the threatened Red siskin and in Europe 12 collections are keeping it, in privat collections it must be the most commonly kept species of this group.
2 other species are kept each at one collection, the Hooded and the Yellow-faced siskin. This last one is also of conservation intrest but luckily is quite well represented in privat collections.
In privat collections several species are kept and bred in relative good numbers, in public collections only one species is kept at more then 1 collection - at least in Europe.
This species is the threatened Red siskin and in Europe 12 collections are keeping it, in privat collections it must be the most commonly kept species of this group.
2 other species are kept each at one collection, the Hooded and the Yellow-faced siskin. This last one is also of conservation intrest but luckily is quite well represented in privat collections.
Quite un-expected but even in Australian aviculture still some South American passerines are kept:
Blue-backed grassquit ( better known as Jacarini finch ), in quite good numbers
Pelzeln's saffron finch - rare but still kept
Red siskin - also still kept
2 other species were still kept at the end of the 1990-ties but I'm not sure if they are still kept now-a-days because already in the 1990-ties they were ( very ) rare and prop. quite inbred :
Red-crested cardinal
Red-crested ( Pileated ) finch
Would be intresting to get informed if any public collection is working with one of the above species.
Blue-backed grassquit ( better known as Jacarini finch ), in quite good numbers
Pelzeln's saffron finch - rare but still kept
Red siskin - also still kept
2 other species were still kept at the end of the 1990-ties but I'm not sure if they are still kept now-a-days because already in the 1990-ties they were ( very ) rare and prop. quite inbred :
Red-crested cardinal
Red-crested ( Pileated ) finch
Would be intresting to get informed if any public collection is working with one of the above species.