@DelacoursLangur It is not piano wire actually, it is a pane of glass with thin horizontal striped glued on it, presumably to prevent birds colliding with the glass. Definitely a little weird solution for that issue and not the greatest one for visitor experience. Antwerp used something similar on the viewing windows into the savanna aviary near the giraffe paddock.
@KevinB Oh wow, how very strange... I wonder how big of a problem birds flying into zoo glass really is. I get that to set a good example zoos want to put up visual barriers, but it certainly does seem counterproductive to build nice glass viewing windows and then cover them up.
@DelacoursLangur Well you definitely want to prevent birds from flying into glass windows because if they do the consequences could be severe injury to or loss of animals.
I think birds might have to get used to glass at first, especially if they have been in normal aviaries before, and that especially early on some kind of marker on the glass would be necessary. But eventually they might learn the barrier and perhaps you could do without obstructive coverings. It is definitely possible to keep birds in glass-fronted exhibits without issue, it is not that uncommon in indoor bird housing for example.
That said, some solutions are less obstructive to viewing than others. Antwerp for example has small and relatively undisturbing stickers on the windows of the restaurant building that look out into the savanna aviary.
