Bird species successfully kept in tropical halls and large mixed aviaries

J

Jarne

Well-Known Member
I thought it might be interested to make a list of bird species or groups of birds successfully kept in large mixed setups like tropical halls and aviaries from their own point of view (disregarding the effect on other birds, though this would be worth noting). It would also be very interesting to add to every species wether they have been bred in such setups or not, because often these species can live long in such aviaries.

To start, let's talk raptors:

Old-world vultures
  • Gyps sp. - all commonly species kept breed successfully, seems to work just fine with most other species including both small and large birds. No real danger to other birds.
  • Monk vulture (Aegypius monachus) - breeds successfully in mixes with both small and large birds
  • Hooded vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus) - breeds successfully in mixes with both small and large birds. No real danger to other birds.
  • Palm-nut vulture (Gypohierax angolensis) - can live long but doesn't breed a.f.i.k., probably best housed alone or with small birds. No real danger to other birds.
  • Bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) - can live long. Does breed in some setups with smaller birds like choughs and partridge, but not when housed with other large bird species.
  • White-headed vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis) - can live long but usually doesn't breed (a.f.i.k. only in Avifauna any breeding success when mixed with other vultures). Probably best housed alone. Might prey on other smaller species.
New-world vultures
  • King vulture (Sarcoramphus papa) - bred occasionally, seems to work fine.
  • Black vulture (Coragyps atratus) - bred occasionally, seems to work fine. Tends to be more predatory then other vulture species so best not kept with small birds and lizards.
  • Turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) - most commonly mixed new-world vulture, does breed in different setups (both with large and small birds). Successfully kept with smaller birds.
  • Lesser yellow-headed vulture (Cathartes burrovianus) - bred occasionally, seems to work fine with other large species but unknown wether it would work with smaller species.
  • Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) - does live long in such setups, but seems not to breed in the few zoos that mix them.
Other raptors
  • Secretary bird (Sagittarius serpentarius) - seems to work just fine with both large and small birds and does breed in such setups. Might be dangerous to certain small ground-dwelling birds.
  • Kites (Milvus sp.) - commonly kept with both large and smaller birds, but seems to fail to breed in such setups. Seems to be harmless to smaller birds due to it's scavenger-nature
  • Kestrels (Falco sp.) - kept with both large and small species. A.f.i.k. no breeding though, maybe to fragile to breed in such setups.
  • Buzzard (Buteo sp.) - sometimes kept with larger species, do fail to breed though.
  • Other species (Goshawk, bateleur, eagles, ...) - sometimes kept with large species like other raptors, very few to none breeding of these and dangerous to small birds.
Do note that most of these species are difficult to breed in general, so due to small sample size for certain species it's often not certain wether the mix itself is the limiting factor or wether other things cause the lack of breeding. Most exhibits for birds of prey are badly decorated, most often resulting in a lack of privacy for the birds. Most exhibits where they breed successfully (including mixed) allow the birds to distance themselves from the public (can be small behind the scenes, almost always very large when on-show) and allow some degree of privacy.

Feel free to correct where you have other experiences that I don't know off. I will keep track of all additional comments in a word-document and post one combined updated list after all groups have been discussed here.
 
This would be quite a large list very easily, as pretty nearly all groups have been kept in such exhibits somewhere.
 
Jarne said:
I thought it might be interested to make a list of bird species or groups of birds successfully kept in large mixed setups like tropical halls and aviaries from their own point of view (disregarding the effect on other birds, though this would be worth noting). It would also be very interesting to add to every species wether they have been bred in such setups or not, because often these species can live long in such aviaries.

To start, let's talk raptors:

Old-world vultures
  • Gyps sp. - all commonly species kept breed successfully, seems to work just fine with most other species including both small and large birds. No real danger to other birds.
  • Monk vulture (Aegypius monachus) - breeds successfully in mixes with both small and large birds
  • Hooded vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus) - breeds successfully in mixes with both small and large birds. No real danger to other birds.
  • Palm-nut vulture (Gypohierax angolensis) - can live long but doesn't breed a.f.i.k., probably best housed alone or with small birds. No real danger to other birds.
  • Bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) - can live long. Does breed in some setups with smaller birds like choughs and partridge, but not when housed with other large bird species.
  • White-headed vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis) - can live long but usually doesn't breed (a.f.i.k. only in Avifauna any breeding success when mixed with other vultures). Probably best housed alone. Might prey on other smaller species.
New-world vultures
  • King vulture (Sarcoramphus papa) - bred occasionally, seems to work fine.
  • Black vulture (Coragyps atratus) - bred occasionally, seems to work fine. Tends to be more predatory then other vulture species so best not kept with small birds and lizards.
  • Turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) - most commonly mixed new-world vulture, does breed in different setups (both with large and small birds). Successfully kept with smaller birds.
  • Lesser yellow-headed vulture (Cathartes burrovianus) - bred occasionally, seems to work fine with other large species but unknown wether it would work with smaller species.
  • Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) - does live long in such setups, but seems not to breed in the few zoos that mix them.
Other raptors
  • Secretary bird (Sagittarius serpentarius) - seems to work just fine with both large and small birds and does breed in such setups. Might be dangerous to certain small ground-dwelling birds.
  • Kites (Milvus sp.) - commonly kept with both large and smaller birds, but seems to fail to breed in such setups. Seems to be harmless to smaller birds due to it's scavenger-nature
  • Kestrels (Falco sp.) - kept with both large and small species. A.f.i.k. no breeding though, maybe to fragile to breed in such setups.
  • Buzzard (Buteo sp.) - sometimes kept with larger species, do fail to breed though.
  • Other species (Goshawk, bateleur, eagles, ...) - sometimes kept with large species like other raptors, very few to none breeding of these and dangerous to small birds.
Do note that most of these species are difficult to breed in general, so due to small sample size for certain species it's often not certain wether the mix itself is the limiting factor or wether other things cause the lack of breeding. Most exhibits for birds of prey are badly decorated, most often resulting in a lack of privacy for the birds. Most exhibits where they breed successfully (including mixed) allow the birds to distance themselves from the public (can be small behind the scenes, almost always very large when on-show) and allow some degree of privacy.

Feel free to correct where you have other experiences that I don't know off. I will keep track of all additional comments in a word-document and post one combined updated list after all groups have been discussed here.
Click to expand...
Andean Condors have been known to kill things
 
FBBird said:
Andean Condors have been known to kill things
Click to expand...
Good point, didn't knew that but a quick search learns that rodents, lagomorphs and birds are sometimes caught. So far it has worked in Doué-La-Fontaine as far as I know, but at the other hand they would probably not publish it when accidents had happened. It might work when the birds are fed often enough, but the question is wether this gives conflict with the wellbeing of the condors.
 
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