Hornbills

As far as I know only Chester and Cotswold Wildlife park now have Great Indian hornbills, although 10-15 years ago Colchester, Marwell, London, (maybe even Rode?) and Ventnor Bird Gardens all kept this species.

Does London not have Great Indian Hornbills anymore.

Rode probably had them in the past though I can't remember seeing them there.

Paulton's Park definately had Rhinoceros Hornbills in approximately 1991/2 but I've never been since...
 
I have a question. What hornbill species do Paulton's Park keep? I heard they had hand-raised a wrinkled hornbill some time ago. What other breeding successes have they had with hornbills?

Also, was Cotswold the last UK site to breed Great Indian Hornbills?

Are there any Writhed/ Rhinoceros/ Great Indian/ Casqued in private collections in the UK?
When i visited early this year they had got Great Indian,Rhinoceros,Black-casqued,Wrinkled and their was another but cannot rember it if i do will post it here.Their are also Black-casqued in private hands in the U.K and i would not be surprised if most of the species seen in the U.K aren`t about in private hands,as their are alot of very good private breeders about!
 
Yes, at first it would appear that there are very few of the larger species about, simply becuase there are so few in UK zoos, but I often find with birds that can be deceptive.....for a start there is no DWA licence required and the quarantine for imported birds is obviously far shorter than for mammals. I often saw images of hornbills used in ads for bird suppliers in Cage and Aviary birds in the late 80s and through the 90's, obviously some were just using impressive images but I'm inclined to believe there are quite a few suprising hornbill species in private collections, seeing as they are often long-lived.
 
When i visited early this year they had got Great Indian,Rhinoceros,Black-casqued,Wrinkled and their was another but cannot rember it if i do will post it here.Their are also Black-casqued in private hands in the U.K and i would not be surprised if most of the species seen in the U.K aren`t about in private hands,as their are alot of very good private breeders about!

Are you referring to Paultons as the place you visited this year?
 
Are you referring to Paultons as the place you visited this year?
Yes I am great collection well worth a visit,also has a good collection of Starlings/Mynahs but the highlight for me is the Laughing Thrushes and Barbets but both of these weredown in numbers on my previous visits.
 
Great Indian Hornbills in UK.

Hornbill- there seem to be some differences of opinion among folk posting here as to exactly how many Giant Hornbills are currently held in the UK and which collections have them (apart from any in private hands...). Someone even suggested they are now only at Chester and Cotswold.

As you are undeniably our Hornbill expert, what is your opinion?
 
I'm really sorry, but i don't know. I have never been to cotswold, but Chester won't be givin g theirs up in a hurry. They have just built a new aviary for them in the elphant house, and Chester is the most sucessful zoo at breeding hornbills in the UK. There was at Least one great indian hornbill in march when I went to London.
 
I'm really sorry, but i don't know. I have never been to cotswold, but Chester won't be givin g theirs up in a hurry. They have just built a new aviary for them in the elphant house, and Chester is the most sucessful zoo at breeding hornbills in the UK. There was at Least one great indian hornbill in march when I went to London.

Bourton-on-the-water Birdland (or Birdworld- whatever) definitely used to have Indian Great- dunno if it still does.
 
I'm really sorry, but i don't know.

Hornbill. I'm surprised - I would have thought you could tell me for sure.... There do seem to be less than I originally thought though.

As I see it, there are Great Indian Hornbills at;

Chester.2.2.
Cotswold 1.1.
London. 1(?)
Paulton's Park 1.1.(?)
Bourton on the Water. possibly ??
Birdworld. Farnham possibly ??
Others??
 
Actually I'd be tempted to say Bourton-on-the-Water no longer does. They don't list them on ISIS, and its a good 7 or 8 years since I went.
 
Dublin had them on my last visit, but that was a few years back and Dublin havent updated their website in over a year.
 
Dublin had them on my last visit, but that was a few years back and Dublin havent updated their website in over a year.
Dublin has still got them at least they did in July this year,Birdland has not got them any more though,on a sad note Birdland lost their pair of Black Hornbills when the River Windrush burst it banks during the floods,the reason they died was because they decided to nest on the ground.
 
There are three not yet mentioned zoos I would recommend to hornbill-fans:

-Zoo Zlin
-Vogelpark Ortenburg-Irgenöd
-Vogelpark Niendorf

All three keep and breed quite a nice collection of different hornbill species.
 
Just to let you know, i went to Avifauna in Alphen a/d Rijn yesterday and saw, from the top of my head 11 orso indian hornbills. Two pairs in aviaries in the parc, and about 7 were in rather small cages 1 by 1 at the "dating centre". The sign read that the animals that are alone in the small cages are animals that are not "on date" at the time, which happens behind the scenes. So they have even more there...
 
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