I know he was still alive in May. He is usually in one of the aviaries at The Roost (near the tigers) in case you aren't aware.
Do you mean where there are North Island Kaka, Kea, Kingfishers and a Little Shag in small enclosures? I went there and saw no sign of him.
yeah, on one side is a row of four (I think) aviaries with kaka, kingfisher, etc. The frogmouth is usually in one of those aviaries but the birds get moved around between the aviaries from time to time. I've never seen kea in there though: the kea are normally in the aviary sort of round the corner from the marmoset doll-house, by the ruffed lemurs. On the other side of the Roost building are another couple of aviaries, one of which -- last time I was there -- had either morepork or little owl, and the other with budgies or cockatiels. The frogmouth could have been in any of those aviaries if he was on display. He may be off-show for some reason. Hopefully he hasn't died (he is an old bird, but one would hope there would be a press release when that happens given that he is the only frogmouth in NZ). EDIT: I just checked and last time I was at the zoo (August last year) the frogmouth was in one of the aviaries on the other side of The Roost building, not in the main row where the kaka etc are.
In case it is of use, here is a list of the captive birds that I saw at Wellington Zoo today (in no particular order): -Australian Pelican: The sole individual was in its usual enclosure. -Red-fronted Macaw: 1 in the same enclosure as an Agouti. -Sun Conure: ~4 in the same enclosure as the Macaw. -Derbyan Parakeet: 2 seen (but more probably present) in the aviary near the Red Panda enclosure. -Cockatiel: ~4 in a large aviary. -Rainbow Lorikeet: 1 seen in the same aviary as the Cockatiels. -Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo: 1 seen in the same aviary as the Cockatiels; another seen in a cage near the "theatre". -Kea: 1 seen at the enclosure near the Black-and-White Ruffed Lemur enclosure; at "The Roost", 2 or 3 of the enclosures were marked as containing Kea. -North Island Kaka: Marked as being in one of the enclosures of "The Roost", but not closely observed. -Emerald Dove: A pair seen in the aviary near the Red Panda enclosure. -Crested Pigeon: 1 seen in the aviary near the Red Panda enclosure. -Sacred Kingfisher: A pair in one of the enclosures at "The Roost". -Little Shag/Little Pied Cormorant: 1 in the same enclosure as the kingfishers. -Helmeted Guineafowl: 2 free-ranging near "The Roost"; 2 juveniles captive in one of the enclosures on the inaccessible side of "The Roost"; ~20 in the Giraffe enclosure. -Domestic Fowl: A free-ranging pair appeared outside a section of the Giraffe enclosure (not where they were indicated as being on the map). -Banded Rail: A pair seen in the same aviary as the Cockatiels. -Himalayan Monal: 1 male in the aviary near the Red Panda enclosure. -Cape Barren Goose: 1 present near the Emus; sitting alongside a Kangaroo. -Emu: 2 present at the enclosure of the Australian captives. Recovering birds at "The Nest": -Red-billed Gull: 1 -Fairy Prion: 1 (written on cage, but not seen). -Tui: 1 (written on cage, but not seen). If I remember correctly, the others were all Kereru. Ostriches were marked on the map as being in the Giraffe enclosure, but were not seen and doubtfully overlooked. Though I did see their Brolga on an earlier visit this year, I did not see it there today, though I may have overlooked it. Their Little Blue Penguin(s) were probably present, but were not seen.
The death was the result of a bad reaction to an anaesthetic. As noted at the end of the following article, the brother of the two cheetahs (by name of Kunjuka) was sent up later from Orana and is now at Wellington with Cango. Cheetah had fatal reaction to anaesthetic - National - NZ Herald News
How Wellington Zoo keeps its critters comfy over winter: Story here: Creature comforts for winter of contentment | Stuff.co.nz
from their Facebook yesterday: I actually thought it had started ages ago but I guess not It will be a while away yet, but I wonder what the old peccary/current kunekune enclosure will be used for when they move. Actually that whole entrance bit will probably end up with a redesign really seeing the penguins will move as well, and I think the otters are old ones.
Looks like Caracal will be stepping out alongside servals when the new 'cats of the grasslands' exhibit opens. There is a clue on the zoos facebook page.
Here's an article on Wellington Zoos new small cat enclosures. Wellington Zoo - Small cats with big ears arrive at Wellington Zoo
caracals are excellent news. I started a thread about them a few days ago because the zoo's email newsletter mentioned them, but then I saw that there was at that time no other public announcement (i.e. outside of the zoo members) so I deleted the thread so as not to upstage any press release. The newsletter only said "We are excited to open our newest exhibit, Grassland Cats, on Saturday 27 September. Our Grassland Cats habitat will be home to our Servals and the first Caracals in New Zealand! " Of course these are not the first caracals in New Zealand. There were three at the North Brighton Zoo in Christchurch in the late 1980s to early 90s (I've even got a very bad photo of one in the gallery). And I'm pretty sure Auckland had them in the early days. The intended import was for two females from Copenhagen so I assume that is the current situation. It is nice to see the servals returning to being on display as well!!
a photo of one of the new caracals, from the Wellington Zoo website (Wellington Zoo - Small cats with big ears arrive at Wellington Zoo). So cute.
an article from a couple of weeks ago. The caracals are indeed sisters from Copenhagen. First peek at city's cheeky caracals - national | Stuff.co.nz I'm not sure where they are located in the zoo (I just had a look on their current map: there are cheetahs in two locations now - one where the hunting dogs were - but no servals or caracals labelled). A visitor has put a video of them on Youtube (looking like they are waiting to be fed):
There is a photo of the exhibit on the Zoo's Facebook page too, it looks like a fully meshed over exhibit, with quite a bit of height, presumably with adjacent enclosures for the two species. I'm fairly sure it is up past the Wild Dog exhibit, opposite the bottom of the ramp up to the giraffe house (where those old holding cages for wallabies then dingo were). It is labelled as "future zoo development" on the current map. There must be quite a bit of space behind it up the slope, which might make a good, quiet, essentially-off-display, quarantine enclosure for something...
the "future zoo development" spot was my best guess too. I just would have thought they would already have the map labelled for them specifically.
The new exhibit Grassland Cats is indeed located just opposite the ramp leading into the giraffe house. I must say they have done an incredible job with it! There are two enclosures next two each other with mesh separating them. The servals and caracals are still spending a lot of time looking at each other through the mesh and getting used to each other. Yesterday I saw one of the Caracals jump into the high trees, and they came right up to the glass as well. That was great to see. It looks like they are definitely settling in well and the people love them!!
Bashii the Sumatran Tiger has arrived at Wellington Zoo from Australia Zoo. Article is on page 9. ISSUU - Cook Strait News 06-10-14 by Local Newspapers
