I will concede that the walk through aviary is reasonably good, the waterfowl areas too. I'm not so sure about the monastery though, different, but personally I didn't think that much of it.I'd argue there are at least three stand-out sections of the bird collection; unfortunately there are few photographs of the first, a walkthrough aviary next to the Regenwaldhaus, but there are a decent number of images of the other two areas of note.
Walkthrough Aviary (Outside Regenwaldhaus)
As noted, there are few images of this aviary and almost all are of the inhabitants rather than the aviary itself - I'd upload some more myself, but I'm currently away from home. The only image I can find is the following, which only shows a portion of the whole:
Nonetheless, this aviary is large, lushly-vegetated and contains a large number of rather nice species, including one big oddity:
King Vulture (Sarcoramphus papa)
Milky Stork (Mycteria cinerea)
Asian Woolly-necked Stork (Ciconia episcopus episcopus)
White-winged Wood Duck (Asarcornis scutulata)
Cochin-Chinese Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus gallus)
Satyr Tragopan (Tragopan satyra)
Waterfowl Complex
There are a large number of rather nice waterfowl exhibits scattered throughout the zoo - most notably within the Hippo House, and within many of the moats/canals across the site - but a large portion of the waterfowl collection is located within a complex of large and pleasant exhibits close to the centre of the zoo:
View attachment 419230
Owl Monastery
One of the other particular highlights of the bird collection, in my opinion, is this peaceful little corner converted from old zoo structures - someone more informed than I will probably know what this area once contained - to resemble the overgrown and thickly-vegetated ruins of an abandoned monastery which have subsequently been inhabited by a selection of owls and other birds, mostly European in origin. The main body of this area comprises a walkthrough exhibit, with a pair of smaller aviaries at either end.
The species held within this area are as follows:
Western European Barn Owl (Tyto alba alba)
Black Stork (Ciconia nigra)
Northern Bald Ibis (Geronticus eremita)
Red-billed Bluepie (Urocissa erythroryncha)
Eurasian Great Grey Owl (Strix nebulosa lapponica)
Eurasian Long-eared Owl (Asio otus otus)
Spectacled Owl (Pulsatrix perspicillata)
European Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus tinnunculus)
The memory of Cologne's penguin enclosure was the first thing that came to mind in this tie and far outweighed that of a half decent walk through and the waterfowl lakes, which are held up as stand out exhibits for Cologne. This may only show part of the enclosure, but its not just the size that I think makes it awful, I don't think I've seen many uglier than this in the UK (older birdworld one, Twycross, Birdland maybe), but I don't think I've seen one this awful in a major zoo
A lot of Cologne's aviaries are pretty similar to the first one!I'd be inclined to suggest that pointing to the quality of the penguin exhibit at Cologne as a reason why it does not deserve to be voted for is more than a little unfair considering the fact that Pairi has multiple exhibits which are equally bad - or indeed worse. @lintworm has already cited the equivalent penguin exhibit, but perhaps it would be a good time to point out how small and inadequate some of the owl exhibits are (especially compared to the aforementioned Owl Monastery at Cologne).
This is a mixed aviary for Tawny Owl and Malayan Wood Owl - not only is it small and shabby, but the two species should probably not be mixed at all!
And this is a tiny aviary for European Barn Owl:
I don't think this is a 'typical example' necessarily, I remember several being more like the one in TLD's post of the PD one! I think it unlikely you will find many photos in the gallery of Cologne's poorer aviaries, probably because people wouldn't want to show Cologne in a bad light, but a lot of members don't like PD and would jump at the chance to post a photo of a bad enclosure from there.Furnishing-wise, maybe, but unless that aviary is bigger than the photo makes it look, all of Cologne's aviaries easily beat it in size. Cologne doesn't have any aviaries that are smaller than this one (a typical example of their pheasantry aviaries):
I visited in July 2018. Poll has closed, narrow win for PD, which personally I think is about right ( other opinions are obviously welcome!). Even if the only 3-0 votes were 2-1, the outcome would have been the same. Incidentally, all my banter with 2 moderators changed absolutely nothing, so fair fight boys!?
) which I've taken care for at Walsrode and at a privat collection and which were offered even in smaller pet-shops during the 1970s / 1980s for a price of Fl. 45 ( would be now 22,50 Euro ), Milky storks, Green oropendola , Long-tailed hornbill ( all three Walsrode mid-1980s ), Crowned hornbill ( taken care for at both Walsrode and Pairi Daiza mid-1980s and mid-1990s ) and Fire-tufted barbet ( Gettorf beginning 1990s ) are surtainly very intresting and now-a-days very rare birds but for me not That "special" which would leave for me the Little bustard, Blue coua and the Channel-billed cuckoo as being highlights for me.
although I stand by my statement that neither 3-0 vote was exactly fair. although I have to say that given the fact you also worked with Spix's Macaw, St Lucia Amazon, St Vincent Amazon, Lesser Bird-of-Paradise, Greater Bird-of-Paradise, Greater Bird-of-Paradise and Shoebill at Walsrode - in other words, all but one of the major bird rarities at Pairi Daiza - and have previously gone on-the-record as having thought the BoP and parrot species weren't particularly interesting and thus never bothered to take photographs of them - your logic regarding why the oddities at Cologne aren't special is a little bit of a double-standard!
I really like Pairi Daiza. Although it is a young zoo, it flourishes at a rapid pace. Cologne Zoo has a great disadvantage because it is surrounded by the city and therefore can not grow. One of Cologne's best houses is probably an elephant house, which is better than in Pairi Daiza. Pairi Daiza has, but more spacious elephant exhibit. I just like Pairi Daiza a lot and it is my favorite zoo. Even good zoos like Cologne are not so amazing (in my opinion). Of course, it also has some mistakes: White Tigers and Javan leopards could have better conditions. Still, Pairi Daiza is the best zoo for me.On another note, we've heard from @vogelcommando as regards his reasoning for giving Pairi a clean sweep - even if I think it is somewhat unfair - but how about @Elephantelephant ?
Orange-bellied?
