Especially as the birds actually bred well in the aviaries here. Aviaries that are hidden beyond the zoo's normal perimeter are one thing (such as all those behind Spirit of the Jaguar and June's Pavilion), but barring access to the few that are within the public areas of the zoo is just ridiculous.
You had to know the aviaries were there, a casual day-tripper would probably pass them by.
The quiet corners I refer to, the places us enthusiasts could go even on a busy day and get away from the crowds and visit a species a little less mainstream, are sadly getting fewer and fewer at Chester.
It's hard to say, although based on the sound and peering through a 400mm lens, tragopans and laughingthrush at the least. The hornbills also remain in their aviary.
There's a flippant answer to that I'll try to avoid, but the official reason is to allow the birds to breed. Which they did when the aviaries were on-show. There are two new houses on either end now too.
If a curator believes so strongly that these species won't breed on-show, them move them somewhere else and leave the on-show aviaries for non-breeding birds that the public can enjoy (or birds that don't care).
It's like the parrots, parakeets, conures, cockatoos etc. all over again, move them off-show... never to return.
