Hummingbirds in zoos

mstickmanp

mstickmanp

Well-Known Member
I'm not sure if this has been asked before but what species of hummingbirds are kept or have been kept in zoos?

I know that the San Diego Zoo has (or had?) a White-necked Jacobin in the Hummingbird aviary and they have been known to have a lot of success with hummingbirds in the past. I also found a link talking about several zoos in the US and what species they have exhibited, but the list feels incomplete and it's outdated.

Link: US Zoos with Live Hummingbird Exhibits

Also, what zoos in Europe or Asia have kept or keep hummingbirds?
 
As far as Europe, this is the list of taxa which are currently held in public collections according to Zootierliste. A full list of taxa which have formerly been held would be prohibitive as ZTL lists a total of 134 taxa which have been present in public collections at one time or another.

Amazilia amazilia has formerly been held at roughly a dozen European collections, the majority of which went out of the species within the last 5 years or so. Furthermore, the species is still held at eight European collections; Walsrode, Wuppertal, Antwerp, Parco Faunistico, Vogelpark Avifauna, Amsterdam, Dierenpark Emmen and London.

Amazilia cyanocephala has been held at Zoo Augsburg since 2001, and was formerly also present at Wuppertal.

Chrysolampis mosquitus has formerly been held at 11 European collections, some of which only recently ceased to keep the taxon. The only remaining holdings of this species are at Zoo Augsburg and Tierpark Berlin.

Colibri coruscans has formerly been held at 27 European collections, several of which still had the species within the last decade. The taxon is currently only held at two collections, ZooParc de Beauval and Genova Aquarium.

Hylocharis cyanus has formerly been held by London, Zoo Berlin and Tiergarten Schönbrunn, all in the 1930s. The sole current holding of this species is at Vogelpark Avifauna.

Lesbia nuna has been formerly held by 5 European collections since the 1990s until, in some cases, quite recently. The sole current holding of this species is Walsrode, which has held the taxon since 2011.

Thalurania furcata has been held by a half-dozen collections in the past, the most recent being Wuppertal until 2012. The sole current holding of this species is at Vogelpark Avifauna.
 
I would suggest that most zoos that are more than thirty or forty years old, have held hummers. They were freely imported at one time, and London Zoo had what was effectively a Hummingbird House with many different species over the years. Birdland had a lot of species. What was then the Wildfowl Trust bred one or two in their Tropical a House. In fact, go back three or four decades, and for a few years, hummingbirds were relatively commonplace.
 
At the moment I know of 2 Birdparks with Houses special devoted for hummingbirds : Vogelpark Avifauna - the Netherlands and Vogelpark Walsrode - Germany.
The most important source of Hummingbirds in Europe - a privat keeper ( mr. Roovers from the Netherlands which bred Hummingbirds in quite large numbers ) past away last year ( or a few years earlier ) and now only a few privat breeders breeds them in small numbers.
 
FBBird said:
In fact, go back three or four decades, and for a few years, hummingbirds were relatively commonplace.
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Indeed, something which makes the current situation where we have 7 taxa in a total of 12 collections, with only the Amazilia amazilia in sufficient numbers that it *might* stick around, an even greater pity. When you consider that the number of collections holding said taxon have halved in recent years, even the Amazilia amazilia may not be secure......

To give a picture of the decline, the following taxa - 19 in total - have disappeared from Europe since 1999.

Aglaiocercus kingii - 2011
Amazilia beryllina - 2011
Amazilia fimbriata - 2006
Amazilia violiceps - 2011
Archilochus colubris - 2001
Calypte costae - 2010
Chlorostilbon notatus - 2000
Cynanthus sordidus - 2008
Damophila julie - 2000
Florisuga mellivora - 2002
Glaucis hirsutus - 2012
Lesbia victoriae - 1999
Myrtis fanny - 2011
Oreotrochilus melanogaster - 2004
Polyonymus caroli - 2002
Rhodopis vesper - 2008
Thaumastura cora - 2011
Trochilus polytmus - 2004
Trochilus scitulus - 2011
 
Esp. the lost of Trochilua polytmus ( the Steamer-tailed hummingbird ) is a pitty because it's one of the few Hummingbirds which can be kept in small groups and has been bred quite well in the past ( Wuppertal had great succes with them as did quite a lot of privet keepers ) and Walsrode recieved a shipment of 20 direct from Jamaica in the late 1980-ties but no breeding there :(
 
Thanks for all the information. I had no idea they were so common in Europe before, but it's a shame that they are quickly disappearing there. From what I've seen, a similar trend is happening in North America where only a handful of zoos left have hummingbirds on display, and mainly native species.

I was greatly disappointed when I visited the San Diego Zoo last month and only see one species of hummingbird in the Hummingbird aviary, and I believe it's only one individual.
 
mstickmanp said:
Thanks for all the information. I had no idea they were so common in Europe before, but it's a shame that they are quickly disappearing there. From what I've seen, a similar trend is happening in North America where only a handful of zoos left have hummingbirds on display, and mainly native species.
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At least you *have* native species, and thus it is unlikely they will ever entirely disappear from collections, even if they become pretty unusual.
 
mstickmanp said:
I had no idea they were so common in Europe before, but it's a shame that they are quickly disappearing there. From what I've seen, a similar trend is happening in North America where only a handful of zoos left have hummingbirds on display, and mainly native species.
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Until a few decades ago hummingbirds were much more common in zoos. Check the remarkable hummingbird species list in European zoos by zootierliste and in all probability it is incomplete because few of its users spend time putting in historical species. There are probably more (Japan?) but Jurong is the only Asian zoo I can think of with hummingbirds and they may not have them anymore. Back in the 1970s and earlier serious attempts of starting breeding programs were far between because the general mentality often was different and wild were so easy to import. Then all hummingbird species -common, rare and everything in between- were listed on CITES. This effectively stopped almost all legal exports of hummingbirds from their native countries. Except for the occasional customs seizure of illegally smuggled birds that are moved to zoos for safe keeping (this is how Avifauna got their unusual species), the few species that remain in European zoos are all very common species that were kept in large enough numbers to get some breeding started. Much of this was only thanks to a few private breeders. I wouldn't be all that surprised if some of these species disappear within the next decade or two. I guess it was also this realisation that prompted Walsrode to built their hummingbird house in 2011, which has big off-show facilies aimed at breeding. There is also a scientific hummingbird center in Trieste, Italy, which is the source of some (all?) of Walsrodes hummingbirds. I don't know much about it but based on their facebook page they do have some breeding success and also keep species not kept elsewhere in Europe. I presume they don't have them all anymore but in this video from 2008 you can see at least seven species: Sparkling violetear (several times, e.g. 52 sec), Purple-throated carib (several times, incl. nesting in start), Buff-tailed coronet (several times, e.g. 30 sec), Amazilia hummingbird (2.41), Chestnut-breasted coronet (several times, e.g. 2.37), Ruby-topaz hummingbird (2.48) and Reddish hermit (2.50). Their facebook gallery started in 2010 and if discouting the photos that were taken on a trip to Ecuador it has three additional species: Green-tailed trainbearer, Purple-collared woodstar and a big hermit I can't identify (long-tailed?).

On a related note it does bug me a bit that most zoos keep hummingbirds in tropical rainforest exhibits. None of the species that remain in more than one zoo are from this habitat:
-Amazilia hummingbird: usually dry to semi-dry woodland and scrub. Tropical temperatures.
-Ruby-topaz hummingbird: usually woodland and scrubland. Tropical temperatures.
-Sparkling violetear: usually highland woodland and scrubland. Subtropical and temperate temperatures.
-Green-tailed trainbearer: same as Sparkling violetear.
-Species native to USA.
Considering that hummingbirds probably are most famous for their small size, it is also interesting that the ruby-topaz is the only species kept in Europe that belong to the smaller species and it is still quite a bit larger than the absolutely smallest.

After visits to Ecuador and Venezuela I was amazed by the diversity of hummingbirds and will never forget the remarkable booted racket-tailed (tiny if discouting tail extension), violet-tailed sylph, crimson topaz (second largest hummingbird), tufted coquette (tiny) and sword-billed hummingbird (longest bill to body ratio of any bird). Species that, despite being widespread in the wild, probably will never appear in zoos again.
 
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temp said:
There are probably more (Japan?) but Jurong is the only Asian zoo I can think of with hummingbirds and they may not have them anymore.
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I don't think Jurong has had hummingbirds for a decade or so. However given that their bird collection overall has started increasing again, including with South American arrivals such as Andean Cocks-of-the-rock and Peruvian Pelicans, I wouldn't be at all surprised if one or more hummingbird species made a return.

The Jungle Jewels exhibit at Jurong was where the hummingbirds were displayed. This was opened in 1998 and was composed of a largish walk-through aviary and a house for individual glass-fronted cabinets. Most of the hummingbirds were in the house, although a few such as Giant Hummingbird were in the walk-through (all the birds in the walk-through were tropical American and included Pompadour and Spangled Cotingas, Black-cheeked Woodpeckers, jacanas, tanagers, honeycreepers, etc). By the time I first visited Jurong in 2004, all the hummingbirds were gone (or at least I saw none on display) and the cabinets were housing tanagers and similar birds. Now the house is a "museum" for avian biodiversity rather than being for displaying living birds. They may have obtained more hummingbirds after 2004 of course, but I have never seen any at Jurong on my visits.

As well as Giant Hummingbird (Patagona gigas), Jurong also had the Sparkling Violet-ear (Colibri coruscans), Oasis Hummingbird (Rhodopis vesper), Amazilia Hummingbird (Amazilia amazilia) and Peruvian Sheartail (Thaumastura cora) on display in the Jungle Jewels, as well as probably a number of others.
 
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Chlidonias said:
As well as Giant Hummingbird (Patagona gigas), Jurong also had the Sparkling Violet-ear (Colibri coruscans), Oasis Hummingbird (Rhodopis vesper), Amazilia Hummingbird (Amazilia amazilia), and Peruvian Sheartail (Thaumastura cora).
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Thanks. If globalspecies.org is to be trusted they also had Black-breasted hillstar
 
temp said:
In addition to being outdated they are missing Dallas World Aquarium, which based on their homepage has Sparkling violetear, Green mango, Green-throated carib, Puerto Rican emerald and Giant hummingbird. The page could also be outdated Hummingbirds - Dallas World Aquarium : Dallas World Aquarium
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everything on the US zoos link that mstickmanp found is over a decade old.

See this recent comprehensive review of Dallas World Aquarium for what is there now: http://www.zoochat.com/22/review-dallas-world-aquarium-350667/
 
Thanks. The current species in Dallas World Aquarium are Oasis hummingbird, Long-tailed sylph, Green-throated carib, Broad-billed hummingbird, Black-chinned hummingbird, Costa's hummingbird, Violet-crowned hummingbird, Green mango and "Emerald hummingbird". I don't know why some zoos insist on using the last name. It has been used for several species but isn't the main name for any of them! I guess in this case they mean the Puerto Rican emerald or Amazilia hummingbird but who knows? With nine species I guess this makes it the American zoo with by far the greatest hummingbird diversity. The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is probably the only that might be anywhere near that number.

I had forgotten that Puerto Rico is part of USA and this adds several interesting hummingbirds to the list of native species (in addition to the mainland natives), including the carib, mango and emerald mentioned above.

Another American zoo that isn't on the list in the first post and has (had?) hummingbirds is Miami. I have found photos from 2010 of Giant hummingbird, Costa's hummingbird and Broad-billed hummingbird.
 
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Just visited the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum a couple of days ago and the species of hummingbirds in their collection are: Anna's, Costa's, Black-chinned, Broad-tailed, and a single female Broad-billed.
 
I'm not sure I've ever seen hummingbirds in a zoo myself. (if I have, I would've been younger) I didn't even know any were kept in captivity. What kinds of exhibits are they kept in?
 
A bit of an update regarding European hummingbird holdings: the last Amazilia cyanocephala in Europe, which has been held offshow at Zoo Augsburg for some time, has now passed away.

Another species lost....
 
Found in some old notes that Dllas World Aquarium kept 6 Amazilia violiceps in April 2009. Seen their succeses with several 'difficult' birds I would be intrested to know if this species has been bred at Dallas ???
 
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