ZooChat European Cup Round 1: Mulhouse vs Poznan vs Rhenen

Birds

  • Total voters
    19
  • Poll closed .
Low turnout for this one so far, folks, which means a well-considered and argued case would probably swing the result. :)
 
Ratites
Mulhouse: Elegant crested tinamou, lesser rhea

Penguins
Mulhouse: Jackass penguin
Rhenen: Humboldt penguin

Herons
Mulhouse: Black stork, Madagascan crested ibis, roseate spoonbill, waldrapp
Poznan: Eurasian spoonbill, marabou
Rhenen: Sacred ibis, saddle-billed stork, western cattle egret

Waterfowl
Mulhouse: African pygmy goose, Baer’s pochard, Baikal teal, Bernier’s teal, Cape teal, common eider, common pochard, common shelduck, Coscoroba swan, emperor goose, ferruginous duck, lesser white-fronted goose, magpie goose, maned wood duck, northern shoveler, plumed whistling duck, Ross’s goose, ruddy shelduck, white-faced whistling duck, white-winged duck
Poznan: Bean goose, mute swan, northern mallard, rosy-billed pochard
Rhenen: American wigeon, Bahama pintail, Brazilian teal, common goldeneye, flying steamer duck, hooded merganser, mandarin duck, North American wood duck, smew, West Indian whistling duck, western greylag goose, whooper swan

Raptors
Mulhouse: Egyptian vulture, Eurasian griffon vulture
Poznan: Andean condor, bald eagle, bearded vulture, golden eagle, Steller’s sea eagle, steppe buzzard, steppe eagle, striated caracara, western honey buzzard, white-tailed sea eagle
Rhenen: Bataleur eagle, red kite

Game birds
Mulhouse: Cabot’s tragopan, Edwards’ pheasant, Himalayan monal,
Poznan: Blue-eared pheasant, common bronzewing, crested fireback, great curassow, northern helmeted curassow, Palawan peacock pheasant, razor-billed curassow, red jungle fowl, Siamese fireback, Tibetan white-eared pheasant
Rhenen: Blue-throated piping guan

Cranes
Mulhouse: Blue crane, sarus crane, western black-crowned crane
Poznan: Eurasian crane, red-legged seriema, west Mediterranean purple swamphen

Gulls
Mulhouse: Bush thick-knee, masked lapwing, Peruvian thick-knee, southern lapwing
Poznan: European golden plover, European thick-knee
Rhenen: Inca tern

Owls
Poznan: European boreal owl, Indian scops owl, little owl, short-eared owl, Ural owl

Pigeons
Mulhouse: African collared dove, Mindanao bleeding-heart, pink pigeon, Sclater’s crowned pigeon
Poznan: Crested pigeon, speckled pigeon

Parrots
Mulhouse: Black parrot, blue-throated macaw, Deplanche’s lorikeet, double yellow-headed amazon, Fischer’s lovebird, golden-fronted conure, great green macaw, horned parakeet, Jardine’s parrot, Kuhl’s brown-necked parrot, red-fronted macaw, vinaceous amazon, yellow-shouldered amazon
Poznan: Cockatiel
Rhenen: Blue and yellow macaw, Major Mitchell’s cockatoo

Turacos
Mulhouse: Fischer’s turaco, Ross’s turaco, southern purple-crested turaco, violet turaco, white-crested turaco

Hornbills
Poznan: Abyssinian ground hornbill, black hornbill, laughing kookaburra
Rhenen: Great hornbill, Javan rhinoceros hornbill, Northern rufous hornbill, Papuan hornbill, Von der Decken’s hornbill, wreathed hornbill, wrinkled hornbill

Toucans
Rhenen: Green aracari, keel-billed toucan, toco toucan, white-throated toucan

Perching birds
Mulhouse: Bali mynah, blue-crowned laughing thrush
Poznan: Iberian azure-winged magpie, red-billed blue magpie
Rhenen: Greater blue-eared glossy starling

Groups of unique species only found at 1 zoo
Mulhouse 2 (ratites, turacos)
Poznan 1 (owls)
Rhenen 1 (toucans)

A squeaky win for Mulhouse
 
While I know it probably won't sway a lot of voters, I want to make the case for Rhenen. I did that once before, so copied from the first ZooChat Cup.

Mr. Zootycoon said:
Just for everyone still making up their mind about this one (like me), let me sketch the current state of the bird collection of Ouwehands.

Most prominent are the hornbill aviaries you see directly when you enter. These hold a variety of species with great hornbill, wreathed hornbill, Blyth's hornbill, rhinoceros hornbill, rufous hornbill and wrinkled hornbill. Although because of winter I don't know which ones will be on show again this year. All but the rhinoceros hornbill are housed well.

Hornbill aviaries | ZooChat

The next main bird eclosure is the giant Urucu aviary, which hold scarlet macaws, scarlet ibis, american flamingo, fulvous whistling duck, wood duck, white-cheeked pintail, inca tern and blue-throated piping guan. The aviary has a lot of indoor spaces for the macaws that regularly breed there. It is large enough to show real flight in the macaws, something that is unfortunately still rare in zoos.

Urucu Aviary | ZooChat
Macaw indoor enclosure | ZooChat

The Ori house has some free living birds like java sparrows and fire-crowned bishop (and nicobar pigeon in with the mouse deer occasionally), but the next important bird area is a set of toucan aviaries. They are spacious, nicely decorated and occupied with green aracari, toco toucan, keel-billed toucan and white-throated toucan, although one of the latter two has gone offshow/left the collection recently. There's also a weaver aviary in RavotApia.

mixed species exhibit | ZooChat
right side of the new Toucan aviary | ZooChat

The (former?) Waddensea exhibit has cormorants, red-crested pochards, scarlet ibis and maybe a few other ducks and geese in with the seals. Just outside of it there's a small-ish enclosure for a pair of saddle-billed storks. The last birds in this corner of the park are the chickens and ducks in the (excellent) petting zoo and a pair of white-naped cranes. The next birds you come across are the humboldt penguins in a simple but nice enclosure.

Saddle-billed stork exhibit | ZooChat
Humboldt Penguin exhibit | ZooChat

Between the polar bears and the brown bears there are two sets of two avaires. One is very large and houses grey crowned cranes, ground hornbill, crested guineafowl and bateleur eagle. A set of smaller enclosures are occupied by a pair of hyacinth macaws and a pair of cockatoos.
Close to it is a pond with a few greater flamingos, and a former red panda enclosure renovated to house snowy owls.

Parrot aviary | ZooChat
Greater Flamingo exhibbit | ZooChat

Close to Pandasia there's a huge pond for pelicans, as well as a construction site for a new flamingo exhibit. The main bird attraction in the last part of the park is a huge avairy providing actual flying space for cinereous vultures and king vultures. Again something that is still not the norm. The last real bird exhibit is a set of two avaires inside the African/mandril house. They are nicely decorated and occupied by Von der Decken's hornbills, greater blue-eared starlings and red-crested turaco.

Cinereous vulture aviary | ZooChat
Aviary inside the mandrilhouse | ZooChat

To conclude the bird collection of Ouwehand the African savannah houses a few ostriches and guinea fowl along with the giraffes.

African plain | ZooChat
Click to expand...

Very few changes have occured since. The new Snowy owl aviary is indeed very nice, and rainbow lorikeet have been added just next to Ravotapia.
 
One and a half hours for a zoo to find an absolute majority or we go to extra time, folks. Get voting and debating.
 
I've just missed the deadline, but if it mattered I would have parked my vote with Poznan.
 
Argh. Yes it would have mattered, but yes you've missed the deadline.

This is what's called a pain-in-the-baboon's-colourful-bits result. Because the second and third place getters were still tied, the 'extra time' round will have to once again be all three zoos. Coming shortly.
 
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