Livingston Ripley Waterfowl Conservancy Livingston Ripley Waterfowl Conservancy
- Thread starter ThylacineAlive
- Start date
I received an email from the facility giving a report on the breeding season. This year, long-tailed ducks and spectacled riders hatched, special successes because they are so infrequently successful. Their first red-crowned crane chick hatched, too. More than 200 chicks hatched, totalling to more than thirty species, at the conservancy this season, including Atlantic common eiders, white-headed ducks, Barrow's golden-eyes, and emperor geese.
"several eggs are still incubating, which is very rare for being this late in the season.
Our success this year was far from easy and required a lot of extra work and attention. Birds are very unpredictable when it comes to incubation, rearing young, etc., so aviculturists must always be prepared to adapt and strategize. In an effort to increase productivity, fertility, and general well-being, several changes were made pre-breeding season, which combined resulted in some of our success. In the late fall of 2022, we made several changes to our bird’s daily diet and increased our offerings of natural food items. This was beneficial for their overall condition and allowed birds to be more active and perform natural behaviors such as diving and foraging. Live fish are a favorite among our sea ducks, and birds could be observed chasing and catching live fish for extended periods of time. Aviculturists and property staff spent the winter designing and building a variety of new nest boxes and deploying them early in the spring so birds had enough time to adjust and pick what they decided was a suitable location. A great deal of time was spent preparing aviaries for breeding, which included creating both artificial and natural nesting locations, moving birds, and enhancing aviaries with a variety of new plants, rocks, stumps, etc."
"several eggs are still incubating, which is very rare for being this late in the season.
Our success this year was far from easy and required a lot of extra work and attention. Birds are very unpredictable when it comes to incubation, rearing young, etc., so aviculturists must always be prepared to adapt and strategize. In an effort to increase productivity, fertility, and general well-being, several changes were made pre-breeding season, which combined resulted in some of our success. In the late fall of 2022, we made several changes to our bird’s daily diet and increased our offerings of natural food items. This was beneficial for their overall condition and allowed birds to be more active and perform natural behaviors such as diving and foraging. Live fish are a favorite among our sea ducks, and birds could be observed chasing and catching live fish for extended periods of time. Aviculturists and property staff spent the winter designing and building a variety of new nest boxes and deploying them early in the spring so birds had enough time to adjust and pick what they decided was a suitable location. A great deal of time was spent preparing aviaries for breeding, which included creating both artificial and natural nesting locations, moving birds, and enhancing aviaries with a variety of new plants, rocks, stumps, etc."
On October 12th, it was mentioned that the facility acquired (0.0.2+?) puna teals chicks and (0.0.2+?) Magellan geese chicks from the Buttonwood Park Zoo in Massachusetts*.
On February 16th, 2024, it was announced that the facility transferred a (0.1) trumpeter swan named Ila to the Akron Zoo in Ohio**.
On February 23rd, it was announced that the facility acquired a (0.1) trumpeter swan named Dilly from the Queens Zoo in New York in autumn 2023 to be eventually released into the wild.
Ripley Waterfowl Conservancy
*Information given by @wild boar on the Buttonwood Park Zoo News thread (Page 10 Post #187).
**Information given by @TigerValley98 on the Akron Zoo News 2024 thread (Page 2 Post #26).
On February 16th, 2024, it was announced that the facility transferred a (0.1) trumpeter swan named Ila to the Akron Zoo in Ohio**.
On February 23rd, it was announced that the facility acquired a (0.1) trumpeter swan named Dilly from the Queens Zoo in New York in autumn 2023 to be eventually released into the wild.
Ripley Waterfowl Conservancy
*Information given by @wild boar on the Buttonwood Park Zoo News thread (Page 10 Post #187).
**Information given by @TigerValley98 on the Akron Zoo News 2024 thread (Page 2 Post #26).
I'm pretty sure there was only one Puna teal chick.
I visited the park for the first time since the new pheasantry opened today. The species list is as follows: Grey Peacock-Pheasant, Silver Pheasant, Cabot's Tragopan, Swinhoe's Pheasant, Temminck's Tragopan, Edward's Pheasant, Elliot's Pheasant, Brown Eared-Pheasant, White Eared-Pheasant, Cheer Pheasant.
The conservancy also has Northern Bald Ibis now. I saw no sign of the scoters.
~Thylo
The conservancy also has Northern Bald Ibis now. I saw no sign of the scoters.
~Thylo