Here's a more detailed review of yesterday's visit to the Bronx. I was debating whether I should even post it because there are probably hundreds of others. But to keep it consistent with the rest of my thread, here goes.
BRONX ZOO (NEW YORK, NY)
Upon walking to the entrance gate, I was asked by a zoo employee if I'd like to be a WCS member for only $45. Since I will more then likely be revisiting my New York family at some other point in the coming year and I might try to return to Central Park Zoo (last visit was pre-COVID) and Prospect Park (if they re-open Hall Of Animals in the next 3 weeks) during this road trip, I figured this was a worthwhile investment even as a Florida native; if I visit the above two institutions or even squeeze in a second Bronx visit on this trip, the membership has already paid for itself.
With an early start and careful planning ahead, I was able to for the first time that I can remember see pretty much everything in one day (except ambassador animal shows and the closed butterfly garden). Here's a small rundown of the exhibits, in the order I visited them.
World Of Birds:
I neglected this exhibit on my past couple of visits; in fact I don't think I went here since 2018. But with new interest in birding, this was going to be my first stop. Absolutely stunning place, with the second floor walkthroughs the best part. Many educational pieces surrounds the countless tropical enclosures. While signage exists, the species are rarely inside the enclosure that the sign is placed on; some species on signs are not even in WOB but are present in other locations, and vice versa. Unlike Zoo Miami's aviary, I was unable to get a zookeeper to give me a list of everything here
But I saw a lot, probably a good majority of species kept here. I got to see my first Malay Chevrotain and Andean Cock-of-the-rock here, among others.
Madagascar:
Another standout exhibit with a particularly wonderful dry forest enclosure filled with lemurs and other species. I saw a Ring-tailed Mongoose and Gray Mouse Lemurs for the first time that I can remember. Even the Collared Brown Lemur, a species that always alludes me at every zoo I visit that has them was out and about. Unsigned species I saw here were some species of Vasa Parrot.
Aquatic Bird House + Sea Bird Aviary:
Like World Of Birds, I haven't been to this facility in a while and was determined to finally return. While nowhere near as nice as the WOB aviary, this was still a good exhibit with many interesting species. I didn't have much luck with some the rarities here; Lesser Adjutant was off-exhibit and the Brown Kiwi was of course impossible to see in the darkness of it's enclosure (has anyone ever seen this guy?) Several non-aquatic birds like Crested Coua, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Sulawesi Hornbill and the aforementioned Kiwi are present here. Most species were identifiable to me, but signage as in WOB was not very accurate in terms of what was held at current enclosure and there were a couple of unsigned duck species that I'm not 100% sure about. Overall, a solid exhibit but in comparison to the many great ones at Bronx this one falls in the middle to lower end in my opinion.
Children's Zoo:
I missed this on my last visit, so I made sure to see it early on. This is the one major exhibit at the Bronx that feels like it can belong at any run-of-the-mill zoo. It's not to say its bad, just that so many other exhibits here are truly standout and this one is kind of on the forgettable side. I liked it, though. There's are many smaller animals that are popular to casual visitors like Squirrel Monkeys, Coatimundi, Fennec Fox, various tortoises including the Aldabra Giant and others. Plus at the end there is domestic animals that can be petted and fed. My pet peeve here is that since this is a "children's zoo", they have little storybook blurbs about the animals rather than signage with interesting facts and scientific names. As such, several animals were hard for me to identify. This is a perfectly fine part of the zoo, but more for the kids. I'd probably skip it if I was running low on time.
Zoo Center:
This building holds a Komodo Dragon (individuals are also at Children's Zoo and Reptile House as well) and several other monitor lizards. There's also indoor viewing for the White Rhinoceros, but they were out when I went. Nothing much to say about this exhibit.
Birds Of Prey/Pheasant Aviaries:
These are also on the weaker end of Bronx's exhibit tier, more so the Pheasant Aviary with functional but ugly cages. By no means bad or anything, but again this is the Bronx Zoo we're talking about so its going to be held to a higher standard. Birds Of Prey only has a few species, but some interesting ones like Andean Condor and Cinereous Vulture. Wish they'd add some more small/mid-sized BOP's. Snowy Owl was off-exhibit due to summer season, and there was also a Golden Eagle that I hadn't seen on my previous visits.
Asia Monorail:
After a string of middling exhibits, we get back to greatness with the Asia Monorail ride. While habitat is not as big as what you might find at a safari park, its still vast and unlike with say San Diego Zoo Safari Park, there's actually a chance you can see everything. I pretty much got a glimpse of every species except by the main deer enclosure; there are five species kept in a single large field and they are pretty identical looking from afar. I know I saw Hog Deer, Indian Muntjac (first time I believe) and Nilgai, but there was also Sambar, Sika and I believe Chital as well; I might have seen the former but that's about it as far as I'm aware. I ended up riding the monorail twice on this visit and enjoyed both rides.
JungleWorld:
The trio of JungleWorld, Congo Gorilla Forest and Madagascar are the best exhibits, imo, and I'm leaning towards JungleWorld as the top one. Just an amazing tropical walkthrough environment filled with interesting species that can sometimes be hard to spot, but which you will anyways want to spend much time in to see the incredible flora and architecture. A few unidentified duck species, but aside from that I could tell what I was looking at.
Himalayan Highlands + Grizzly Bears:
Good outdoor exhibits. Snow Leopard was barely visible this visit, but I've seen them many times in the past.
African Plains + Giraffe Building + Gelada Reserve:
This was always my go-to exhibit in the past, but as someone who has begun to become a veteran zoo visitor, I actually saved this for nearly last. The plains and reserve are nice outdoor enclosures with a number of species. The Giraffe Building has nice Dwarf Mongoose and nocturnal-style Aardvark exhibits. The Aardvark is hard to see at times, but this visit he was active and digging like crazy.
Congo Gorilla Forest:
Many will consider this the crown jewel of the Bronx Zoo and it's indeed either my favorite or second favorite exhibit right behind JungleWorld. The Gorilla habitat is probably the best in the country, and there are a host of other species here, like Mandrill, Red River Hog, Wolf's Guenon and supposedly De Brazza Monkeys, though I think the last time I've seen them here was way back when was a child. Many interesting educational and artistic pieces as well. Besides an Okapi exhibit that has a weak viewing area, this one has nothing I can complain about.
Mouse House + Outdoor Enclosures:
The enclosures just outside the Mouse House are pretty crappy when compared to the rest of the zoo, imo. They'd actually be fine for some random nature center, but again I'm holding Bronx to a very high standard. I'd say they are the worst exhibit currently at Bronx, and the only one that's average even when comparing it to smaller and less famous zoos. White-faced Saki, Southern Pudu and Red-rumped Agouti were on display. The Mouse House itself is a wonderful little exhibit that looks at the smallest and most overlooked of mammals. I wish that they can add some more species, I remember they had a couple of other interesting species like a ground squirrel and armadillo over the years, but they're not there anymore. Several enclosures also display the same species. That's just a small nitpick, though.
Reptile House:
A nice house for herps. They seem to have changed the species of snakes on exhibit since my last visit about a year ago.
I'm not adding a species list for this place since it will take up too much space, and I'm sure someone already added a recent one. But if someone wants it, I can look into making a different thread with what I saw.
OVERALL EXPERIENCE: As always, this was a wonderful visit. That's no surprise to anyone, obviously. I have a hard time imagining a zoo enthusiast putting Bronx out of any Top 5 US zoo list. I ranked Bronx Zoo as my #3 all-time favorite zoo visited behind San Diego and Zoo Miami, but returning after nearly a year and being able to complete the entire zoo this time, I can hear an argument for moving it higher. Bronx is almost like the ex that you loved but kind of forgot about and moved on to a new wonderful relationship (my current hometown zoo, Miami), but then you meet her again and all the feelings of how great she is come back and you get conflicted. Luckily since this is just arbitrary zoo rankings, its a pretty damn good conflict to have
I'm lucky both my ex-home and current home zoo are so awesome.
