I was surprised when I saw your pic of this aviary, because it looks identical to an aviary in a zoo Olomouc in my country (around 45 foots high), theirs aviary was opened in 1973. Do you know how old is the one in Smithsonian National zoo and who was its architect?
I just did some research online and in a book that I own about the National Zoo...and I couldn't find out anything about when the aviary was constructed. Perhaps someone else can answer that question...
The Great Flight Cage was completed in 1964 and design by the architecture firm Daniel, Mann, Johnson and Mendenhall. I have an old Bethlehem Steel advertisement from 1966. Interesting note the steel mesh of the aviary was tested to withstand 100-mph winds.
I have visited National Zoo last week. In the aviary I saw Indian peacocks, raven, northern cardinals, and ducks (American black ducks, smews, Bahama pintails, ans woodducks). I noticed that the number of species there was fewer than in the recent past (when I also saw cormorants, ibises, hammercops, tragopans).
