Had a nice visit to the park today and noticed a lot of changes so I have a long list of updates. I apologize in advance for the length of this post!
-There are a pair of Blue cranes in Mombassa Lagoon now. I saw them in the area with the Pink-backed pelicans and Coscoroba swans.
-Several changes have occurred in Nairobi Village since I last visited the park and the whole area looks more empty now unfortunately. The black-footed cats have been taken off habitat (they should still be held bts) and Newman the sand cat has moved into their habitat. His former habitat was empty and signage was taken down (I'm assuming a new species is coming).
-The remaining terrariums in the village contain Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec, Pancake Tortoise, Woma (in two terrariums), and Madagascar Tree Boa. There were at least 2-3 empty terrariums unfortunately, so I'm hoping they get some new inhabitants soon.
-The Southern Pudu are now living in the former Red-flanked Duiker habitat (which used to hold Tufted Deer) and the duiker have moved into the former pudu yard. The new pudu habitat was under maintenance and the animals were off habitat.
-The aviary behind the petting zoo/Nairobi Village area no longer holds Bali Myna or Snowy-crowned Robin-chat. Instead, it holds some unsigned Fischer's lovebirds and White-crested Laughingthrushes now.
-There is a breeding pair of Red-flanked Duiker in the habitat they share with Gerenuk, Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, and Demoiselle Crane. They were exhibiting breeding behaviors and I was glad to see them doing well in this habitat because the last time I visited, there was only a single individual in this enclosure that was pacing a lot in the back of the habitat.
-The park is down to 1.3 gerenuk (at least on habitat) which was unfortunate to see because I noticed (from looking at my photos) that as recently as last summer, the park had at least 6 females in their herd. Not sure if the other females were sent elsewhere or they all died, I'd hope it is the former since the US population isn't doing too well at the moment.
-The red river hogs were nowhere to be seen and all the signage had been taken down. Not surprising though considering how tiny their on-show yard was.
-The park has had an East African Sitatunga calf born recently! I saw a group of 4 sitatungas (including the calf) in the front of their habitat by the tram loading station for the first time ever. They're almost always hiding in the very back of their habitat so it was a nice surprise to see the group up close and personal (especially the calf)!
-A pair of Cape Buffalo were in the Grevy's Zebra habitat and I did not see any zebra or other antelope in there. Not too sure what's happening there...
-The Somali Wild Ass herd was nowhere to be seen and the tour guide only mentioned the dromedary camel that lives with the wild asses. A friend who visited recently also didn't see them a week or two back so I'm assuming they've moved them off habitat for the time being.
-A bachelor herd of Sitatunga has been moved into the Central Africa enclosure. Lots of bachelor herds in that enclosure with Grevy's Zebra, Greater Kudu, Roan Antelope, and now Sitatunga. The only females in there are the female herd of Uganda Kob and the female Black Rhino.
-Exciting rhino news! According to our tour guide, Black Rhinos Kendi and Aria were seen breeding about 6 months ago and keepers are hoping that Aria is pregnant. The tour guide also mentioned the park has the national record for most black rhino calves which I'm not too sure is true. The park has only had around 15 calves iirc and I'm pretty sure there's some zoo in the country that's had more Black Rhino calves than that (Cincinnati perhaps?).
-I spotted a pair of female gazelles in the African Forest enclosure on the other side and I'm fairly certain they were the park's remaining two red-fronted gazelles.
-A Defassa Waterbuck calf was born a few weeks back. I'm glad the park is continuing to breed this species since they are the only holder in the nation iirc.
-I asked a docent at Lion Camp what their plans were and was told they will be getting some new lions as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the park's spotted hyena was not on habitat and they had just left the habitat empty with a docent to inform guests about the lions being gone.
-The former coati habitat is still empty but they have added some ropes and climbing structures so it looks like it will be some sort of (small) primate species that'll be inhabiting the enclosure.
-There are a bunch of babies in the Condor Ridge/Walkabout Australia area with a bunch of burrowing owl chicks, 4 bighorn sheep lambs (plus one being hand-reared in the nursery), and a bunch of kangaroo and wallaby joeys.
-The Wings of the World Aviary no longer holds Mindanao Bleeding Hearts or Eastern Crested Guineafowl. Southern Bald Ibis and Reichnow's Helmeted Guineafowl have been added to the aviary and I was told by Coelacanth18 that there are unsigned White-crested Laughingthrushes in there but didn't see any myself.
-I was told (by Thylo I think?) that WoW no longer holds Northern Purple Roller but they were still signed. I didn't see any though so is them still being signed just a mistake?
-A pair of Abdim's Stork chicks have hatched recently in the WoW aviary.
Rest In Peace, handsome king. You made every visit a memorable one.
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