Australian birds in North America

Evirapo

Evirapo

Well-Known Member
Number of Australian bird species in the NA...

I made this trend mostly because I wanted to know about the population of captive Australian brush turkey in the NA, but I think it's not worth making a trend for a specific bird, so this is just a trend about Australian birds in general in NA for you.

I would love some answer, please!
 
Emus, black swans, laughing kookaburras, budgeriars, eclectus parrots, and rainbow lorikeets (senso lato) are all common in US zoos. There are a number of cockatoo species as well (check out the "Parrots of North America" thread by @Great Argus for details). Blue-winged kookaburras are housed in a (very small) handful of zoos, while there are decent-sized populations of Australian wood ducks, spotted whistling ducks, tawny frogmouth, masked lapwings, Southern cassowary, blue-faced honeyeaters, magpie geese, sarus cranes, metallic starlings, and Australian crested doves. I don't know much about brush turkeys, but at the very least I think one of the San Diego parks have them (@Julio C Castro would know if it's the zoo or safari park). There might still be some wompoo fruit doves around, however I don't know where or how many. Oh- and how could I not mention my favorite Australian bird species, the little blue penguin!
 
Neil chace said:
I don't know much about brush turkeys, but at the very least I think one of the San Diego parks have them (@Julio C Castro would know if it's the zoo or safari park).
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San Diego does not, afaik - they were going to but it never happened I think. Brush-turkey is pretty nearly gone. Wildlife World has one, and I think Bronx does too? One or two others maybe.

Neil chace said:
There might still be some wompoo fruit doves around, however I don't know where or how many.
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Fair handful of Wompoo around still far as I know.

Neil chace said:
sarus cranes
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I don't know that I'd say good numbers for Sarus, they're rather on the decline.
 
Great Argus said:
I don't know that I'd say good numbers for Sarus, they're rather on the decline.
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More so I meant that there was a reasonable number of individuals, and not a case like the blue-winged kookaburra that's only housed in around three zoos (give or take). Yes, there obviously aren't as many sarus cranes as there are, say, tawny frogmouths or metallic starlings, but it's still not a super-rare species like some.
 
The only mention of brush turkeys I’ve heard was they removed prior to the debut of Walkabout Australia, I wasn’t given a reason as to why. Other Australian birds I’ve seen, coincidently at Walkabout Australia, would be Freckled Ducks and Radjah Shelducks in the Marsupial Walkway.
 
Neil chace said:
More so I meant that there was a reasonable number of individuals, and not a case like the blue-winged kookaburra that's only housed in around three zoos (give or take). Yes, there obviously aren't as many sarus cranes as there are, say, tawny frogmouths or metallic starlings, but it's still not a super-rare species like some.
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That's fair, yeah. There's 25-30 Sarus left I think altogether, compared to the fairly numerous other two species.

Julio C Castro said:
The only mention of brush turkeys I’ve heard was they removed prior to the debut of Walkabout Australia, I wasn’t given a reason as to why.
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I remember seeing them added to the website, and then they were absent on opening and nothing was ever said one way or another.
 
Someone said there are 5-7 holders of brushturkey in the NA so I want to know if that's true and what names?

I only know Sylvan Heights Bird Park and Fort Worth Zoo are two of these
 
Evirapo said:
Someone said there are 5-7 holders of brushturkey in the NA so I want to know if that's true and what names?

I only know Sylvan Heights Bird Park and Fort Worth Zoo are two of these
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Who is "someone"?
 
Evirapo said:
I'm sorry for late reply but:



Captive Megapodes
2017
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Ah okay. Not sure if 5-8 was accurate even the six years ago, that member has not exactly been the most reliable source of information.

As it currently stands, I'm only aware of two facilities left with Brush-turkey, those being Wildlife World and Fort Worth. WW has one, and FW may only have one as well. Most other facilities have been confirmed to have gone out of them, or in a few cases unseen and unknown for a couple years now.

Also, if you were just curious about Brush-turkey, you could have posed your question here instead of creating a whole new thread: Megapodes, Guans, and Currasows in North American Zoos
 
Evirapo said:
I'm sorry for late reply but:



Captive Megapodes
2017
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Even in 2017 those numbers were very likely incorrect, 2-3 facilities seems more reasonable of an estimate.
Great Argus said:
As it currently stands, I'm only aware of two facilities left with Brush-turkey, those being Wildlife World and Fort Worth. WW has one, and FW may only have one as well. Most other facilities have been confirmed to have gone out of them, or in a few cases unseen and unknown for a couple years now.
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Those numbers of 5-8 holders were accurate about 15 years ago. Wildlife World and Fort Worth each have a single animal, and that's all the brush turkeys that are living in North America at the moment. I believe that the Bronx Zoo is the only other facility to have had them in or after 2017.
 
Nile Hippo Expert said:
Even in 2017 those numbers were very likely incorrect, 2-3 facilities seems more reasonable of an estimate.

Those numbers of 5-8 holders were accurate about 15 years ago. Wildlife World and Fort Worth each have a single animal, and that's all the brush turkeys that are living in North America at the moment. I believe that the Bronx Zoo is the only other facility to have had them in or after 2017.
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This feels like you merely consolidated everything I said for the sake of saying something. Also your last statement is incorrect as SDZSP did hold them at least briefly in 2017-18 even if they didn't make it on exhibit, and Sylvan Heights potentially did as well.
 
I didn't know if the title of the thread was referring to the presence of Australian birds solely in zoos or just in general, so I just included any birds that are commonly held privately, as well as those that are in public collections. Here are just a few that I came up with at the top of my head that weren't mentioned previously:

Pink-Eared Duck: Rare, only three holders; Central Park, Sedgwick County, and Sylvan Heights

Australasian Shoveler: Rare, only three holders; Minnesota, Sedgwick County, Sylvan Heights

Cape Barren Goose: Common; 11 holders

Chestnut Teal: Somewhat common, nine holders

Pacific Black Duck: Rare, only two holders; Sedgwick County, & Sylvan Heights

Plumed Whistling Duck; Somewhat uncommon; only 5 holders

Wandering Whistling Duck: Rare, only three holders; Dallas, Fort Worth, & Sylvan Heights

Green Pygmy Goose: Extremely rare, only one holder: Sylvan Heights

Brolga: Extremely rare, only 1 holder; International Crane Foundation

Straw-Necked Ibis: Somewhat uncommon, but a fair amount of holders

Silver Gull: Rare; Kansas City Zoo and a couple others are the only holders

Eastern Rosella: Common in captivity, as well as in the pet trade

Princess Parrot: Somewhat uncommon in zoological collections, but common in the pet trade

Diamond Dove: Extremely common in the pet trade

Wonga Pigeon: Uncommon; 4-5 holders

White-Breasted Woodswallow: Don't know the exact number of holders, but they seem to be around in prevalent numbers in quite a few collections from what I've seen

Australian Magpie: Bronx is the only holder I know of, are there more?

Double-Barred Finch: Common in the pet trade

Gouldian Finch: Extremely common in the pet trade

Zebra Finch: Extremely common in the pet trade
 
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Nile Hippo Expert said:
Even in 2017 those numbers were very likely incorrect, 2-3 facilities seems more reasonable of an estimate.

Those numbers of 5-8 holders were accurate about 15 years ago. Wildlife World and Fort Worth each have a single animal, and that's all the brush turkeys that are living in North America at the moment. I believe that the Bronx Zoo is the only other facility to have had them in or after 2017.
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I'm pretty sure Sylvan Heights Bird Park still has these... It's on the website.
 
Evirapo said:
I'm pretty sure Sylvan Heights Bird Park still has these... It's on the website.
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Website listing doesn't necessarily mean they have the species - Brush-turkey is unseen/unmentioned from Sylvan Heights in a few years now. It's possible they do still have them, but increasingly unlikely.
 
Great Argus said:
Website listing doesn't necessarily mean they have the species - Brush-turkey has been unseen/unmentioned from Sylvan Heights in a few years now. It's possible they do still have them, but increasingly unlikely.
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I think the last post of these is from 2021, but yeah.

I don't really understand the disappearance of known/unique animals from the USA collection before 2030 since the start tho.
 
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