Vogelpark Avifauna Vogelpark Avifauna news

White-headed vulture hatched - a first for the Netherlands but shortly after hatching the chick died and was eaten by the parents :(.
 
Just back from a visit to this Birdpark today ( together with 2 other ZooChatters ) and some news / changes :
- in the new South America area the first animals can be seen ( Red titi monkeys, White-faced sakis, Geoffroy's marmosets ans Emperor marmosets and a pair of Crested Seriema's ). The area is however far from finished.
- New species ( at least it is still not on Zootierliste ) : Yellow-bellied green pigeon and they already had a young.
- Other species with chicks : Green peafowl, Creasted screamer and Trumpeter swan.
- Female Southern Sulawesi tarictic hornbill was sealed in the nestbox.
- Bush thick-knee was incubating ( pait in the Nocturnal / Kiwi house.
- Avifauna does not longer keep Coleto and Cotton pygmy geese.
- I saw one of the Kiwis in the outside aviary ( others had more "luck" and saw both ;) !
 
vogelcommando said:
- in the new South America area the first animals can be seen ( Red titi monkeys, White-faced sakis, Geoffroy's marmosets ans Emperor marmosets and a pair of Crested Seriema's ).
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While I understand the possible commercial imperative that might have forced this move, I am really disappointed that Avifauna has, in recent years, taken mammals into its collection. Inevitably, these various primates will detract from the birds, and detract, too, from the zoo's uniqueness in the Netherlands: rather than being a very special "bird zoo", it will become just another mixed collection.

(I am aware that in the past, Avifauna had other mammals in its collection - zebras, for example, if I'm not mistaken).
 
sooty mangabey said:
While I understand the possible commercial imperative that might have forced this move, I am really disappointed that Avifauna has, in recent years, taken mammals into its collection. Inevitably, these various primates will detract from the birds, and detract, too, from the zoo's uniqueness in the Netherlands: rather than being a very special "bird zoo", it will become just another mixed collection.

(I am aware that in the past, Avifauna had other mammals in its collection - zebras, for example, if I'm not mistaken).
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I understand what you mean but those few species will not take the focus away, at least IMO. And they even had already some none-birds in the collection ( mouse deer, bearded dragons lemurs ).
I think that with a little more variation they can reach a much larger public.
As you said in the earkier day they had indeed zebras but I also remember monkeys and gibbons being kept at Avifauna and they are not the only Birdpark which want to give some other animals a change, even the best known Birdpark - Walsrode had for a period of time Tree kangaroos and flying foxes in the collection. Lets simply wait and look how long these other animals will stay
 
Question: where is the kiwi outside aviary? When I visited last summer I was only aware of their area in the nocturnal house.

Also, do the screech owls and/or tawny frogmouths still live in there? Only saw a brief glimpse of the kiwi and the pair of bush thick-knees last time I was there.
 
The Kiwi-pair outside can be found in the Phasanerie - the row of cages directly after te Tropical houses - in the aviary of the Western grey plaintain-eaters, The Plaintain-eaters are signed, the Kiwis are not but you can notice it by the typical Kiwi-hiding-boxes in the aviary.
In the Kiwi-house I only noticed the Thick-knees and a Frogmouth this time.
 
I would recommend the Rainforest hall (multiple species of turaco, hornbill, plus cocks-of-the-rock), the night section (kiwis!!) plus the aviary walk outside the rainforest hall (with multiple species of hornbill, again more turacos and in the aviary of the western grey plantain eaters a (secret) kiwi! The cassowaries at the entrance and the eagles nearby are good, as is the pelican lake and lemur walkthrough, and finally I would recommend the hornbill walk just for the species they have on show (they have a lot!!). The bird show is also apparently good.
 
I visited last sunday, for the first time. Sadly, most of the parrot/parakeet area was empty due to renovations, meaning I missed some of the more interesting species.

In the Philippine area of the rainforest hall, there should be coleto(s), though I didn't see those, and there was a great blue turaco when I visited. In the Pantanal area make sure to look for the red-and-white crake, which I was also unfortunately unable to see, and the wattled jacana. The Guianan cocks-of-the-rock are also in an aviary in this part of the hall. The female was very active, but the male sat still in a tree for most of the day.
Other highlights are the brand-new Nuboso area, which has unsigned enclosures for hummingbirds and tanagers. I believe only the corner exhibits houses hummingbirds at the moment, and I only saw one female on my visit, but be sure to try and find her. In the Nuboso walkthrough itself are a lot of interesting species, but the main highlight for me was their pair of nocturnal curassow; they're one of the only two zoos in europe to keep them ;)
Other rarities are Picazuro pigeons, yellow-faced mynas, southern Sulawesi tarictic hornbills (indicated as yellow-faced hornbills in the 'aviary' part of the tropical hall), white-crowned hornbill, and crowned lemur.
 
Inventory from the 2015 Annual report:
249 bird-species, 1989 specimens
6 mammal-species, 26 specimens
2 reptile-species, 6 specimens
5 fish-species, unknown number of specimens
 
Several hatchings at the Tropical Hall :
Red junglefowl
Nicobar pigeon
Brazilian teal
Superb fruit-dove :).
 
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