Birds: An American Zoo List

snowleopard

snowleopard

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I tracked down all of the major American zoos that have at least 100 bird species and I've typed out a list below. Other than a few exceptions where data was unavailable, this is a fairly comprehensive list and naturally includes behind-the-scenes animals. I obtained this data from the International Zoo Yearbook and San Diego Zoo leads the list of 30 facilities. In fact, between the two 'San Diego Zoo Global' zoological attractions there are a ton of birds!

San Diego Zoo - 330 species
Bronx Zoo - 300
Zoo Miami - 230
San Antonio Zoo - 225
San Diego Zoo Safari Park - 215
Houston Zoo - 205
Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo - 200
Toledo Zoo - 175
Cincinnati Zoo - 160
Fort Worth Zoo - 160
Denver Zoo - 150
Saint Louis Zoo -150
Sedgwick County Zoo - 150
Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium - 150
Columbus Zoo - 140
Dallas Zoo - 140
Disney's Animal Kingdom - 140
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay - 130
Zoo Tampa at Lowry Park - 130
Phoenix Zoo - 120
Memphis Zoo - 115
Tulsa Zoo - 115
Woodland Park Zoo - 115
Honolulu Zoo - 110
Birmingham Zoo - 105
Kansas City Zoo - 105
Audubon Zoo - 100
National Zoo - 100
Philadelphia Zoo - 100
Rio Grande Zoo - 100

Notable absentees include Dallas World Aquarium (no data is ever available from that place) and specialist bird zoos such as Tracy Aviary, Sylvan Heights Bird Park and the National Aviary in Pittsburgh.
 
If a full list was available for DWA, it would undoubtedly be high up on this list; I wouldn't be surprised if it sits in the top 10. However, species cycle in and out of that facility often and the facility's hands-off approach to population monitoring means that even the people who work there might not know the actual number at any given time. Such is the nature of the place.

I'm surprised to see that SDZSP is fifth on this list. Do they have a lot of aviaries?
 
According to this article, the zoo has 160 waterfowl species, 25 species of wetland birds, and 50 terrestrial species of bird. This was published in 2013 and currently their fairly accurate website lists 198 species. This does include the new bird species at the Wings of the Tropics exhibit, which has some amazing rarities. I would estimate this exhibit has an additional 15 species. So the article is fairly accurate, and the number in my opinion may be closer to 250/260 species now given the new exhibit and the breeding center.

The Birdman: Mike Lubbock of Sylvan Heights Bird Park – Our State Magazine
 
nczoofan said:
According to this article, the zoo has 160 waterfowl species, 25 species of wetland birds, and 50 terrestrial species of bird. This was published in 2013 and currently their fairly accurate website lists 198 species. This does include the new bird species at the Wings of the Tropics exhibit, which has some amazing rarities. I would estimate this exhibit has an additional 15 species. So the article is fairly accurate, and the number in my opinion may be closer to 250/260 species now given the new exhibit and the breeding center.

The Birdman: Mike Lubbock of Sylvan Heights Bird Park – Our State Magazine
Click to expand...

@snowleopard specifically mentioned that this zoo, and other bird-parks, were not included on his list.
 
TZDugong said:
@snowleopard specifically mentioned that this zoo, and other bird-parks, were not included on his list.
Click to expand...

I interpreted Snow Leopard's comments as saying that they were notably absent, either because they lacked 100 species or that their numbers were not reported. I was attempting to give a clarification that Sylvan heights does in fact well exceed 100 bird species. If I misunderstood the comments, then I definitely understand why a bird-exclusive park would not be included in the dataset.
 
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