I was at the Bronx Zoo in 2005 and I remember there were about 5 too small aviaries housing various species of birds of prey such as an Andean Condor, Golden Eagle etc.....are they still existent and have any improvements been made to these exhibits? I can recall the poor birds pacing back and forth begging to be set free.....
Bronx Zoo Bird of Prey Aviaries
- Thread starter aw101
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tigertiger
Well-Known Member
They're still there. They've looked the same to me for most of my life so I don't think there have been any chances. It's sad but true. I would have to say that the 3 bird exhibits at the Bronx Zoo are all far too outdated. I was told that they redid the World of Birds in recent years but it still has more the feel of a tight museum than it does a World of Birds. The other Bird House by the Birds of Prey is even worse.
I do wish they'd do something about them--even as someone not all too interested in birds. It just feels so out of place for such an on the ball institution.
I do wish they'd do something about them--even as someone not all too interested in birds. It just feels so out of place for such an on the ball institution.
Pretty much all of Bronx Zoos bird exhibits are outdated. World of Birds is an old facility but is not in dire repair like the Aquatic Bird House. Twice I visited and it was not even open. The Penguin Colony exhibit on the other hand is very naturalistic and puts the animals right next to you. The Bird of Prey exhibits also need to be redone. the largest birds, condors and cinereous vulture, really look big in such small areas. A large free flight aviary would be nice to see for these magnificent birds. Franklin Park Zoo in Boston had a small exhibit for andean condors in the back of their free flight aviary. They now have full run of the aviary and have hopes of breeding their pair. It also just looks better.
tigertiger
Well-Known Member
I'm told that World of Birds was redone in the not so recent past. The facility itself is terribly outdated but it's so much better than the Aquatic Bird House--by far. That bird house always makes me feel like I'm in a classroom--not a zoo. Then again, I don't think brick walls should be friends with birds.
I love that Magellanic penguin colony. Your literally right there and the birds know you are. It's such a personal environment. It's really an underrated exhibit. Of course, I'm partial to penguins. I love penguins far too much.
I wish Bronx had plans to do something with their Birds of Prey exhibit. As it is now, it feels like the birds are the prey of the public.
Zooplantman
Well-Known Member
Many of the World of Birds exhibits were re-done while I was there in the 90's. In general, that means existing exhibits gutted and replaced. But the building and the concept are unchanged and, I think, work well.
In surveys of the visitors, birds have ranked consistently low, so they are not going to be a priority.
The Aquatic Bird House has been on the wish list for the zoo for years, but the empty 1905 Lion House was a greater priority and was re-opend this summer as "Madagascar!"
After that I imagine it will be awhile before there are funds for Aquatic.
A solution would be to clip the wings of the condors and supply them with a large area filled with logs and fallen trees such as the condor exhibit at the Heart of Africa in the SDWAP..
Adelaide Zoo recently demolished their large condor aviary to make room for their new lion exhibit, and the condors' wings were clipped and they appear to be doing well...
I just remember the Bronx Zoo aviaries being dismally small and the birds looking very miserable..
Adelaide Zoo recently demolished their large condor aviary to make room for their new lion exhibit, and the condors' wings were clipped and they appear to be doing well...
I just remember the Bronx Zoo aviaries being dismally small and the birds looking very miserable..
tigertiger
Well-Known Member
As someone who doesn't tend to visit the bird exhibits first or with eager anticipation at any zoo, I feel like it's such a catch-22. Bronx, especially, has a great amount of avian life. If the exhibits were more up-to-date, eye-catching or even user interactive...perhaps more would be interested in visiting them. The other two main local zoos in the NYC WCS (Central Park and Queens) have better bird displays than Bronx and that's a shame. The Puffin and Chinstrap/Gentatoo exhibit at Central is easily the highlight of the tiny zoo and their Tropical Birds land is actually quite interesting. Even Queens with it's new walk through Aviary gives visitors a real experience--not just an exhibit.
Bronx however is still keeping sad birds behind glass where visitors do little more than walk from one panel to the next rather than jump with joy to see what else they can see.
What's wrong with the World of Birds? It has many open-fronted exhibits (some two-story with separate treetop and forest floor viewing), two giant walk through aviaries, beautiful plantings and habitat recreations, updated and eye-catching graphics. and an incredible diversity of birds, many breeding. Yes, the building itself is a bit dated, but the individual exhibits are as good as any on the planet.
Aquatic Bird House had many very progressive ideas for an early-1960s exhibit, but has certainly passed it's shelf life expiration date.
Aquatic Bird House had many very progressive ideas for an early-1960s exhibit, but has certainly passed it's shelf life expiration date.
tigertiger
Well-Known Member
I personally beg to differ: there are few open-fronted exhibits (and the ones that are tend to be rather small at that). I can only recall one walk aviary and I wouldn't by any means call it large. And I think the habitat recreation is the worst part: putting a toco behind glass with a few trees while the walls surrounding him are still the most visible thing in the exhibit aren't a very good recreation in my mind. There's no exhibit in the House of Birds that really stands out in my mind as having any wow factor or any interest really beyond looking at and going "oh look...bird." I really wish they were because--as you said--there are some great species in there that deserve far more recognition.
In my mind though, not being atrocious doesn't make an exhibit good though when comparing it to the Aquatic Bird House, the World of Birds suddenly looks like Candyland.
Okay, I'm not going to change your mind, but there are several open-fronted exhibits (bee-eater cliffs, argus pheasant forest floor and canopy, Asian rainforest destruction exhibit, Eastern North American woodland, Oropendola treetops) and two very large walk-through aviaries (African forest, South American forest). The artificial trees and living vegetation in all of the exhibits (except the hornbill treetops exhibits, which are rather sparse) are dramatic and lush. Although viewed through glass, the exhibits for Birds of Paradise, Red Bishops, Guira Cuckoos, Currasows are beautifully appointed.
San Diego's huge walk-through aviaries are obviously fantastic, but name some other US zoo bird exhibits you feel are better than the World of Birds
Zooplantman
Well-Known Member
1. You really ought to visit it again. There are two huge walk through room: very tall and deep.
2. So what kind of bird exhibit do you like?
The big sea bird flight outside of world of birds is not a model for tropical passerines...you'd never see anything. (And it was built only after a freak late winter snow brought down the original 1900s cage that was on that site.)
The wonderful, old flight cages such as at San Diego cannot work in New York weather. Big flights, such as the 1905 one in St Louis bore visitors terribly.
Also, open cages for hornbills are not safe for visitors.
What do you think of all the birds in Jungleworld? Or the smallish exhibit at Congo?
Zooplantman
Well-Known Member
Hmmm, I thought the last new exhibit was the cross bill parrots.
Birdman7487
Well-Known Member
ive been to the world of birds and thought it was ok. it could have been better tho. i was hoping to see birds like the hoatzin and andean cockoftherock but those were not there. Even though isis is not correct all the time, reading through the 97 and 99 bird abstracts, they sounded like they had much more harder to find in zoo species and many are no longer in captivity anymore that i know of like the pied babbler they had. What else was in there in the 90s? can any one else tell me cause i did not look through the whole thing completely?
Coming back to existing eagle/condor aviaries, they are one of worst exhibits remaining in Bronx. I hope that few remaining birds will be given away to some falconry centre or other zoo and cages will be demolished. Many zoos put smaller birds into old aviaries (e.g. owls or kestrels) but I never saw it really hitting the visitors. I also never heard of visitors caring that some zoo hasn't got eagles in their collection.
I am strongly against keeping birds of prey with clipped wings. Its terrible, like living stuffed specimen. Birds of prey in the wild never walk more than a few steps.
I am strongly against keeping birds of prey with clipped wings. Its terrible, like living stuffed specimen. Birds of prey in the wild never walk more than a few steps.
sooty mangabey
Well-Known Member
Have I stumbled upon the PETA or Zoo Check website by mistake? The birds were "begging to be set free" were they? That must have been an interesting conversation.
sooty mangabey
Well-Known Member
Maybe not specifically. But the loss of 'bio-diversity' is certainly noticed. London is the best example. Get rid of all the things that people don't particularly like, apparently, and suddenly the visitor realises that there isn't much to see. Big collections - well housed - are a draw even to those who can't tell the difference between an eagle and a vulture. Look at how many people visit the two Berlin zoos, for example.
And going back to the earlier comments here, I'd love it if there was anythign on a par with The World of Birds in a British zoo. And while the aquatic house is a bit dated, and shabby, it is a wonderful slice of history, and still some elements of it are extraordinarily noteworthy. I think there are a lot of people who contribute to Zoobeat who would like to see all that is at all historical replaced with something nice and shiny and new. But the new isn't always (or even usually) better than what has been tried and tested, and what has stood the test of time.
I am not going to wade into the debate over the quality of the bird exhibits at the Bronx Zoo, but several times there were calls for suggestions on this thread of superior aviaries at other North American zoos. San Diego has several absolutely stunning walk-through aviaries, and I just visited Miami Metrozoo and the "Wings of Asia" aviary (300 birds of 70 species) is fantastic and one of the best aviaries I've seen in my life. Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo has a walk-through aviary that is an incredible 4 acres in size, and the National Zoo's huge outdoor aviary is also impressive.
Good to see Snowleopard back (with a vengance--possibly a ZooChat record for most posts in a day)! Looking forward to photos of Wings Over Asia, which sounds like a great exhibit.
But once again, I have to take issue with the "bigger is better" approach of Omaha Zoo. Yes, the aviary is huge. But it exhibits a rather mundane collection of mis-matched species (no geographic or habitat theme--just a random collection of this and that, all pretty common). As snowleopard noted, the boardwalk and graphics are dated and decaying, and the impact of the big space is wasted by the crude entry vestibules and views of the aviary from outside. I was very underwhelmed last time I saw it, despite its size.
National Zoo's big aviary is nice, but then so is the Seabird Aviary at the Bronx.
San Diego has three fantastic walk-through aviaries, but dozens of small aviaries ("stamp collection"-style) that use the same type of mesh that is almost impossible to view through, housing an extraordinary bird collection in an extremely boring/unimaginative way. The giant raptor aviaries are amazing though.....
Riverbanks Zoo has a very nice Bird House, and I've heard the big African aviary at Jacksonville is very good as well. But I still feel World of Birds offers the greatest overall presentation of birds (including interpretation) I've ever seen. Diversity of habitats, viewing situations, and graphics all combine to make this so, at least for me.
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But once again, I have to take issue with the "bigger is better" approach of Omaha Zoo. Yes, the aviary is huge. But it exhibits a rather mundane collection of mis-matched species (no geographic or habitat theme--just a random collection of this and that, all pretty common). As snowleopard noted, the boardwalk and graphics are dated and decaying, and the impact of the big space is wasted by the crude entry vestibules and views of the aviary from outside. I was very underwhelmed last time I saw it, despite its size.
National Zoo's big aviary is nice, but then so is the Seabird Aviary at the Bronx.
San Diego has three fantastic walk-through aviaries, but dozens of small aviaries ("stamp collection"-style) that use the same type of mesh that is almost impossible to view through, housing an extraordinary bird collection in an extremely boring/unimaginative way. The giant raptor aviaries are amazing though.....
Riverbanks Zoo has a very nice Bird House, and I've heard the big African aviary at Jacksonville is very good as well. But I still feel World of Birds offers the greatest overall presentation of birds (including interpretation) I've ever seen. Diversity of habitats, viewing situations, and graphics all combine to make this so, at least for me.
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