Maguari in Florida (and Georgia)

[Maguari]

Well folks, last update 'from the field' (or at least, 'from Atlanta airport').

Georgia Aquarium was, as a few people have previously suggested, a good but not too outstanding aquarium with one major exhibit that knocks the pants off almost anywhere else. Ocean Voyager is simply incredible. I can well understand why at least one well-travelled Zoochatter considers it the best single animal exhibit in the world.

The Mantas are three birostris (or birostris-type) and one alfredi; they do indeed have Lesser Devil Rays as well. And the Whale Sharks... blimey!

Next post will be when back home tomorrow!

 

[Brum]

Well folks, last update 'from the field' (or at least, 'from Atlanta airport').

Georgia Aquarium was, as a few people have previously suggested, a good but not too outstanding aquarium with one major exhibit that knocks the pants off almost anywhere else. Ocean Voyager is simply incredible. I can well understand why at least one well-travelled Zoochatter considers it the best single animal exhibit in the world.

The Mantas are three birostris (or birostris-type) and one alfredi; they do indeed have Lesser Devil Rays as well. And the Whale Sharks... blimey!

Next post will be when back home tomorrow!

I can't wait for a full trip report, sounds like it's been a great time!
Glad you've had fun and clocked up a fair few new species along the way.

 

[kiang]

I can't wait for a full trip report, sounds like it's been a great time!
Glad you've had fun and clocked up a fair few new species along the way.

I echo that and look forward to your pics and reports, wishing you a safe journey home.

 

[Maguari]

Back home and spent this afternoon going through the notebook and through photos to put together the wild list (for mammals, herps and birds so far). I had about a dozen or so photos (of varying quality) of birds 'to be identified' and have managed to put a name to most of them - my favourite being the bird-that-was-with-some-Willets-but-wasn't-a-Willet that turned out to be a Stilt Sandpiper once I got an image on a decent screen. A fish/invert list will follow but there's even more ID work to do there!

This is cut-and-paste from a spreadsheet and will lose the italics and alignment so sorry about that - it would take forever to put it back! Anything with a * is an introduced/feral species and anything with an 'A' after it was only seen (or confidently ID'd) in Atlanta, not Florida.

Mammals
Eastern Cottontail Sylvilagus floridanus
Marsh Rabbit Sylvilagus palustris
Big Cypress Fox Squirrel Sciurus niger avicennia
Eastern Grey Squirrel Sciurus carolinensis
Eastern Chipmunk Tamias striatus A
Northern Raccoon Procyon lotor
Florida White-tailed Deer Odocoileus virginianus seminola
Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin Tursiops truncatus truncatus

Reptiles
Yellow-bellied Slider Trachemys scripta scripta
Florida Softshell Turtle Apalone ferox
Green Anole Anolis carolinensis
Brown Anole* Anolis sagrei sagrei
Green Iguana* Iguana iguana
Northern Curly-tailed Lizard* Leiocephalus carinatus armouri
South-eastern Five-lined Skink Eumeces inexpectatus
Water Snake (ID tentative - brief view) Nerodia sp. (probably taxispilota)
Everglades Racer Coluber constrictor paludicola
Southern Black Racer Coluber constrictor priapus
American Alligator Alligator mississippiensis

Amphibians
American Green Tree Frog Hyla cinerea
Pine Woods Tree Frog Hyla femoralis
Cuban Tree Frog* Osteopilus septentrionalis

Birds
Wild Turkey Meleagris gallopavo
Black-bellied Whistling Duck Dendrocygna autumnalis
Egyptian Goose* Alopochen aegypticus
Muscovy Duck* Cairina moschata
Carolina Wood Duck Aix sponsa
Mallard (inc. domestic hybrids) Anas platyrhynchos
Mottled Duck Anas fulvigula
Blue-winged Teal Anas discors
Ruddy Duck Oxyura jamaicensis
Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps
Wood Stork Mycteria americana
American White Ibis Eudocimus albus
Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus
Roseate Spoonbill Platelea ajaja
Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax
Yellow-crowned Night Heron Nyctanassa violacea
Little Green Heron Buteroides virescens
Western Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis
Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias
Great White Egret Ardea alba
Tricoloured Heron Egretta tricolor
Little Blue Heron Egretta caerulea
Snowy Egret Egretta thula
Eastern Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis carolinensis
Double-crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus
Anhinga Anhinga anhinga
Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura
American Black Vulture Coragyps atratus
Western Osprey Pandion haliaetus
Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus
Snail Kite (ID tentative - brief view) Rostrhamus sociabilis
Red-shouldered Hawk Buteo lineatus
Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis A
American Kestrel Falco sparverius
Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus
American Coot Fulica americana
Sandhill Crane Grus canadensis
Limpkin Aramus guarana
Black-bellied Plover Pluvialis squatarola
Semipalmated Plover Charadrius semipalmata
Wilson's Plover Charadrius wilsonia
Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularia
Willet Catoptrophorus semipalmatus
Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres
Sanderling Calidris alba
Stilt Sandpiper Calidris himantopus
Black Skimmer Rynchops niger
Laughing Gull Leucophaeus atricilla
Greater Black-backed Gull Larus marinus
Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus
Caspian Tern Hydroprogne caspia
Royal Tern Thalasseus maximus
Sandwich Tern Thalasseus sandvicensis
Common Tern Sterna hirundo
Feral Pigeon* Columba livia
Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
Common Ground Dove Columbina passerina
Eurasian Collared Dove* Streptopelia decaocto
Great Horned Owl Bubo virginianus
Ruby-throated Hummingbird Archilochus colubris
Belted Kingfisher Ceryle alcyon
Red-bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes carolinus
Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher Myiarchus crinitus
White-eyed Vireo Vireo griseus
Loggerhead Shrike Lanius ludovicianus
Blue Jay Cyanocitta cristata
Florida Scrub Jay Aphelocoma coerulescens
American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos
Fish Crow Corvus ossifragus
Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica
Tufted Titmouse Baeolophus bicolor
Brown-headed Nuthatch Sitta pusilla
Carolina Wren Thryothorus ludovicianus
Blue-Grey Gnatcatcher Polioptila caerulea
American Robin Turdus migratorius A
Grey Catbird Dumetella carolinensis
Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos
European Starling* Sturnus vulgaris
Palm Warbler Dendroica palmarum
Black-and-White Warbler Mniotilta varia
American Redstart Setophaga ruticilla
Northern Parula Parula americana
Ovenbird Seiurus aurocapilla
Worm-eating Warbler Helmitheros vermivora
Common Yellowthroat Geothlypis trichas
Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia A
Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus
Common Grackle Quiscalus quiscula
Boat-tailed Grackle Quiscalus major
House Sparrow* Passer domesticus


Some of the birds will be confidently assignable to subspecies when I go through them properly. The two crows were ID'd by call and I'm pretty sure we saw both. Well over 100 MBRA taxa, the majority species I've either never seen at all or never seen wild - I'm extremely chuffed!

 

[Maguari]

What do you think of the new Penguin Exhibit at SW? And what animals have replaced the Gerenuks at DAK?

The penguin exhibit itself is very good, and the little ride before it is actually quite fun. The first area you see the penguins on foot from is for the land area, and has a small underwater viewing area that I was perplexed by as it seemed very unambitious given the scale of the construction, but then you walk into the next room and there's an enormous window into a lovely deep pool. Very nicely done. I couldn't see an obvious way of getting to the penguins without riding, although the signs specified that infants 'in arms' couldn't ride but could be taken to the penguins, so it must be possible somehow - perhaps you need to ask someone.

As an actual enclosure, though - one of the best at SeaWorld.

Re: DAK's Gerenuks, were they in the small paddock towards the end of the safari ride (on a little hill with woods at the top and a marshy area at the bottom)? If so, there are now Addax in here - these are definitely new arrivals.

 

[kiang]

Welcome back Maguari.

When i was at DAK a few years ago now, the gerenuk were in an enclosure in the Pangani forest trail, behind the meerkat and dik-dik.

 

[Maguari]

Welcome back Maguari.

When i was at DAK a few years ago now, the gerenuk were in an enclosure in the Pangani forest trail, behind the meerkat and dik-dik.

Ah, I didn't see anything there at all - I couldn't work out if I should be seeing animals there or not! No dik-diks visible or labelled either, just meerkats. I did look, because it looked very big just for meerkats.

 

[Ituri]

The penguin exhibit itself is very good, and the little ride before it is actually quite fun. The first area you see the penguins on foot from is for the land area, and has a small underwater viewing area that I was perplexed by as it seemed very unambitious given the scale of the construction, but then you walk into the next room and there's an enormous window into a lovely deep pool. Very nicely done. I couldn't see an obvious way of getting to the penguins without riding, although the signs specified that infants 'in arms' couldn't ride but could be taken to the penguins, so it must be possible somehow - perhaps you need to ask someone.

As an actual enclosure, though - one of the best at SeaWorld.

Re: DAK's Gerenuks, were they in the small paddock towards the end of the safari ride (on a little hill with woods at the top and a marshy area at the bottom)? If so, there are now Addax in here - these are definitely new arrivals.

No the gerenuk were behind the meerkats after the gorilla window on the Pangani Forest Trail.

 

[Maguari]

No the gerenuk were behind the meerkats after the gorilla window on the Pangani Forest Trail.

We cross-posted, I think!

Welcome back Maguari.

When i was at DAK a few years ago now, the gerenuk were in an enclosure in the Pangani forest trail, behind the meerkat and dik-dik.

Ah, I didn't see anything there at all - I couldn't work out if I should be seeing animals there or not! No dik-diks visible or labelled either, just meerkats. I did look, because it looked very big just for meerkats.

Further to this, the printed Animal Guide leaflet for the park has nothing listed for Pangani that I didn't see, so unless anyone knows otherwise I'd say that enclosure is still empty for now.

 

[Ituri]

We cross-posted, I think!





Further to this, the printed Animal Guide leaflet for the park has nothing listed for Pangani that I didn't see, so unless anyone knows otherwise I'd say that enclosure is still empty for now.

Wait...there's a printed guide leaflet?

 

[Maguari]

Wait...there's a printed guide leaflet?

Yes, but it's pretty minimal - just a sec...

 

[Maguari]

Leaflet image attached! Doesn't include everything - birds and small reptiles are often glossed over - but it was handy in making sure I didn't miss anything big. Only mammal I remember that is missed off from the walk-around was Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec; the Springbok were new in the savannah and weren't yet on the list either.

 

[Ituri]

Thanks Maguari!

 

[Maguari]

No problem! Just noticed Ellipsen Waterbuck was also missing from the list for the safari.

 

[Giant Eland]

Ocean Voyager is simply incredible. I can well understand why at least one well-travelled Zoochatter considers it the best single animal exhibit in the world.

Who's this well-travelled Zoochatter? If it's not me, I also think that, and am also a well-travelled Zoochatter haha (and as a mammal guy I don't usually like aquariums/fish very much)

 

[ThylacineAlive]

Who's this well-travelled Zoochatter? If it's not me, I also think that, and am also a well-travelled Zoochatter haha (and as a mammal guy I don't usually like aquariums/fish very much)

I was thinking SnowLeopard.

~Thylo

 

[Maguari]

I'm sure he won't mind being unveiled - it's Tim Brown (and I hope what I said is correct; if not I'm sure he'll be along to correct me!).

And Mr. Eland makes two!

 

[zoomaniac]

@Maguari: Thank you for your reply.

So no more Gerenuks, no more Malayan Tapirs, maybe no more Dikdiks (at least on exhibit), a zebra enclosure that has failed and only a few bird species left in the Asian aviary but rising entrance fees almost every year - not really something that makes me happy.

 

[Maguari]

First batch of photos up - feel free to take issue with any of my IDs if you see fit!

 

[ThylacineAlive]

How has the zebra enclosure failed?

~Thylo