National Aquarium in Baltimore National Aquarium Species List

The galah and sulfur crested have not been exhibited for over 15 years. Both have proved difficult to remain out of reach of the guests. Similar story for the wonga pigeon who's also not on exhibit.

The finches were removed a long time ago as well so the kookaburra could be exhibited in the free flight aviary. The remaining two are what's left of the aging out population.

The remaining pigeons/ doves (minus the pied imperials) are all aging out off exhibit.

Definitely not as populated as it once was when it opened in 2005, although that was problematic in its own way for separate reasons.

The problem moving forward is the difficulty in acquiring bird species native to the Northern Territory that not only meets the geographic requirements, but the very complex display needs for a three story, multi- species exhibit. Unless of course it's filled with budgies and lorries, which I know the curators don't necessarily find desirable.

It would be so disappointing if it ended up just having common species :( The mulga is my favorite, I bought an old art print of one after seeing the species for the first time at the aquarium. I hope they're able to bring in some new animals.
 
It would be so disappointing if it ended up just having common species :( The mulga is my favorite, I bought an old art print of one after seeing the species for the first time at the aquarium. I hope they're able to bring in some new animals.

The mulga and rosella are personal favorites as well so I echo your sentiment. They can be hard to spot, but if you're patient, you can easily view them from a few ledges.
 
The mulga and rosella are personal favorites as well so I echo your sentiment. They can be hard to spot, but if you're patient, you can easily view them from a few ledges.

I love the rosella, as well, but a few other places have those at least! I think Sylvan Heights is the only other with the mulga. If I do Australia first I manage to see all of them, as long as I take my time.
 
The mulga and rosella are personal favorites as well so I echo your sentiment. They can be hard to spot, but if you're patient, you can easily view them from a few ledges.

Visited on wednesday and didn't see either of them, despite returning multiple times :( It was very cloudy and the docent I've spoken with in the past said the mulga, in particular, doesn't like to come out when it's cloudy. A different docent said the finches are being kept in that big cage above the python exhibit...? I saw both lorikeet species, at least three pied imperials, three budgies, two cockatiels, the pair of masked lapwings, a honeyeater, and the bowerbird.

I had better luck in the rainforest, finally seeing multiple tanagers, and a sunbittern stealing food and flying about. I found the smooth-sided toad! A keeper said the PDFs in the rainforest are all Anthony's now.

Do they still have both wobbegongs? The interactive signage only mentions ornate, and the website only mentions tasseled.

The tank in Australia that previously held Triops now has spotted blue-eye.
 
Visited on wednesday and didn't see either of them, despite returning multiple times :( It was very cloudy and the docent I've spoken with in the past said the mulga, in particular, doesn't like to come out when it's cloudy. A different docent said the finches are being kept in that big cage above the python exhibit...? I saw both lorikeet species, at least three pied imperials, three budgies, two cockatiels, the pair of masked lapwings, a honeyeater, and the bowerbird.

I had better luck in the rainforest, finally seeing multiple tanagers, and a sunbittern stealing food and flying about. I found the smooth-sided toad! A keeper said the PDFs in the rainforest are all Anthony's now.

Do they still have both wobbegongs? The interactive signage only mentions ornate, and the website only mentions tasseled.

The tank in Australia that previously held Triops now has spotted blue-eye.

I confirmed with the aquarium earlier this week that they have ornate and tasseled wobbegongs.
 
Visited on wednesday and didn't see either of them, despite returning multiple times :( It was very cloudy and the docent I've spoken with in the past said the mulga, in particular, doesn't like to come out when it's cloudy. A different docent said the finches are being kept in that big cage above the python exhibit...? I saw both lorikeet species, at least three pied imperials, three budgies, two cockatiels, the pair of masked lapwings, a honeyeater, and the bowerbird.

I had better luck in the rainforest, finally seeing multiple tanagers, and a sunbittern stealing food and flying about. I found the smooth-sided toad! A keeper said the PDFs in the rainforest are all Anthony's now.

Do they still have both wobbegongs? The interactive signage only mentions ornate, and the website only mentions tasseled.

The tank in Australia that previously held Triops now has spotted blue-eye.

The finches are not visible at all and are completely behind the scenes. They used to be exhibited in the separate houdy previously used by the kookaburras, but that was many years ago now when they still had a dozen or so. They're just down to a few left and are a phase out species.

As was also mentioned, there are both species of wobbegongs, one each - the tasseled usually hangs out by the pair of viewing windows on the left hand side of the exhibit. The ornate is almost always out of visitor view.
 
The finches are not visible at all and are completely behind the scenes. They used to be exhibited in the separate houdy previously used by the kookaburras, but that was many years ago now when they still had a dozen or so. They're just down to a few left and are a phase out species.

As was also mentioned, there are both species of wobbegongs, one each - the tasseled usually hangs out by the pair of viewing windows on the left hand side of the exhibit. The ornate is almost always out of visitor view.

That's what I thought about the finches, thanks. The one python left is an olive, like the sign says? The docent kept calling it a water python and there's a photo in the gallery from Oct that labels it as a water.

The tasseled girl is my favorite <3 It's been years since I've seen the ornate so I wasn't sure if they still had one. Thank you for the info!
 
The aquarium just had their first USDA inspection with birds included. A lot of low numbers :( A few additions, mostly to Australia (I assume), but they don't make up for there only being 1 mulga now IMO. My signed species are based on my visit in 2022.

Sea cliffs, no changes
:
18 Atlantic puffins
2 black guillemot
5 razorbill

Australia, signed in 2022 and present now:
3 budgie
5 cockatiel
3 blue-faced honeyeater
1 eastern rosella
1 fawn-breasted bowerbird
1 laughing kookaburra
2 masked lapwing
1 mulga parrot
7 pied imperial pigeon
4 Swainson's lorikeet
1 Wonga pigeon

Australia, additions (assumed location):
3 coconut lorikeet
1 galah
1 sulphur-crested cockatoo
1 common emerald dove
1 diamond dove
1 wompoo fruit dove
1 black-throated finch
1 star finch

Rainforest, signed in 2022 and present now:
6 blue-headed parrot
1 boat-billed heron
5 red-capped cardinal
5 scarlet ibis
1 scarlet macaw
2 screaming piha
2 sunbittern
2 yellow-crowned Amazon (listed as yellow-headed)

2 blue-grey tanager
2 green-and-gold tanager
1 paradise tanager
5 silver-beaked tanager
4 turquoise tanager

Rainforest, no longer present:
blue-crowned motmot
golden-bellied grosbeak
sun conure
white-trailed trogon
bay-headed tanager

Rainforest, additions:
1 blue and gold macaw
1 hyacinth macaw
6 yellow-rumped cacique
They actually have 2 laughing kookaburra. They rotate on and off exhibit and only one is ever out at a time.

Yellow-headed Amazons are what the aquarium keeps. Yellow-crowned are a different species which only have a little bit of yellow at the top of their heads unlike the yellow headed which their entire heads are yellow. Also, they still had one sun conure when I last went in November of 2023. The parrots go off exhibit at night as they are known to be destructive, so you may have just missed it and besides it’s very small and hard to find. Also, what ever happened to the motmot?

Back in 2022 the aquarium said they plan on getting a new pair of golden lion tamarins on exhibit but that still hasn’t happened yet. Are they a phase out species or is that plan still in the works? Last I went the current pair was already very old and retired from display. I don’t even know if they are still there as there’s no information about it on the website. They are technically off exhibit but may be visible to guests as their cage is in the left corner of the rainforest. You might see them from a distance from the multi-level deck. It all depends on luck, and it is impossible to predict whether you will see them or not. Even when they were on exhibit they liked to hide a lot and we wouldn’t see them.
 
They actually have 2 laughing kookaburra. They rotate on and off exhibit and only one is ever out at a time.

Yellow-headed Amazons are what the aquarium keeps. Yellow-crowned are a different species which only have a little bit of yellow at the top of their heads unlike the yellow headed which their entire heads are yellow. Also, they still had one sun conure when I last went in November of 2023. The parrots go off exhibit at night as they are known to be destructive, so you may have just missed it and besides it’s very small and hard to find. Also, what ever happened to the motmot?

Back in 2022 the aquarium said they plan on getting a new pair of golden lion tamarins on exhibit but that still hasn’t happened yet. Are they a phase out species or is that plan still in the works? Last I went the current pair was already very old and retired from display. I don’t even know if they are still there as there’s no information about it on the website. They are technically off exhibit but may be visible to guests as their cage is in the left corner of the rainforest. You might see them from a distance from the multi-level deck. It all depends on luck, and it is impossible to predict whether you will see them or not. Even when they were on exhibit they liked to hide a lot and we wouldn’t see them.

There's only one laughing kookaburra at the Aquarium. They never rotated on exhibit when there were two.

The sun conure and motmots are no longer at the Aquarium since the Rainforest renovation.

There are no new tamarins either and the old pair are in their howdy which, at this point, is no longer visible due to some cleaver plantings by the horticulturalists.
 
Some updates from my visit yesterday.
- Felix the green moray eel has passed away. He was around for a while, so I’m not surprised as he was probably getting old. The aquarium is now down to just one green moray, Floyd. Floyd came after the aquarium’s other male, Oscar, also passed away a while back.
- There are now four sloths in the rainforest. A baby sloth named Turnip was born a month ago to mom Buttercup.
- The aquarium actually keeps both olive and water python. There are one of each along with the carpet python. However, they rotate every few months. Sometimes it is the olive who is on exhibit and other times it is the carpet and water who are on exhibit together.
- Actually managed to get a shot of the golden lion tamarins! It used to be much easier to see them from the lower deck but now it’s much harder to see due to the vegetation being grown near the lower deck. The places you can now look for them are 1: as soon as you walk up the escalator, 2: there is a small platform on your way up to the lower deck, and 3: the left corner of the upper deck and look as far back left as you can. In any of those places, it’s very hard to see, but I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse. The “retirement convo” enclosure they have now is still quite large and naturalistic for two little monkeys with a large tree with lots of hiding spots.

Photo below: the little ball of orange is the monkeys curled up.
 

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Does anyone know if the aquarium still has golden lion tamarin? I know the female died last summer and the male went back on exhibit late last year, but today I was there and once again didn’t see him.
 
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