I rarely manage to find the time the time to write reviews or blogs of my travels for this site, but as it’s Easter weekend, and I find myself with a few hours to kill, I thought I’d write something on my recent trip to New York. First of all, a big thank you to the locals (you know who you are) who provided excellent advice before the trip. It all proved invaluable. I had not been to NY before (or even the US, although have been to Canada a few times) although my wife had previously visited a few times in the late 90s, before I met her (but she had not visited the zoos). The idea was to do a typical NY tourist holiday and take in Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo and New York Aquarium. Queen’s Zoo and Prospect Park Zoo were maybes, depending on how the time went. We had 8 days in total. We stayed at a rented apartment in Brooklyn (just around the corner from Franklin Avenue subway). I have to say I absolutely loved Brooklyn and was very glad we opted to stay there instead of in the hussle and bussle of Manhattan. I loved the character of Brooklyn, everyone was extremely friendly and helpful, and the place had real charm. I found Manhattan a bit like any big city really, a bit homogenous. We obviously travelled all over the wider city because of the zoos, and I felt comfortable and welcome everywhere I went. I appreciate that this is a very different city to as it was in the 70s and 80s, but I can’t stress enough (to those Europeans that may still have a past view of NY) that I felt safe wherever I went and, from the people I spoke to, got a real sense that New Yorkers are proud of their city. All my English friends who have been to the US said I would get annoyed with the tipping, and were all keen to hear my ‘tipping stories’ when I returned to the UK (I’m not renowned for holding my tongue when I am unhappy with something!). But I have to say that I had none to tell. This may have been because we didn’t stay in a hotel and used the subway all week to travel around ($30 for the week is an absolute bargain and I used my ticket to the full! I loved the subway!). So no hotel and no cabs made a big difference here. We tipped the cabs to and from the airport and in restaurants, but to be honest I tip cab drivers and restaurants in the UK, so was no different). We were also lucky with the weather, as the week before it had still been very cold, but we had mostly sunny days at around 10-15 degrees (sorry guys, I’m a scientist, I only work in decimal measurements! ), with just a couple of days of grey skies and short periods of rain. Worth also saying at this point that, despite visiting all 5 zoos, we did also manage a whole range of things. Statue of Liberty, Top of the Rock, Central Park, Times Square, Natural History Museum, High Line, 911 tour and memorial (very affecting indeed……), Brooklyn Bridge, Botanical Gardens, Seaport and lots of lovely restaurants all over. As well as the zoos, I was very pleased to see lots of local birds in Central Park. It was a sunny day and there were many birders out, so they gave me some good tips. Delighted to see woodpeckers, cardinal, cormorant, 3 species of sparrow, finches, blue jay and a shy woodcock (no picture ). Before I move on to my impressions of the zoos, many of you will have seen that I have already posted a selection of photos on zoochat. Obviously, this is just a small selection of highlights. I haven’t posted very many of enclosures or houses as they are pretty well covered on the galleries already, but if anyone wants a picture of something specific, please do ask. The lady who owned the apartment we stayed in said that the small zoos (I.e. not Bronx) were ‘kiddies’ zoos. Having visited them all, I have to say they are all unlike any small zoo I have ever visited in the UK (which all seem to keep the same species and have no highlight houses). Each one of the small zoos in New York has its own charm and each a different range of species (very little is duplicated, only the Californian Sealions stick in my mind). I guess this is partly because all the zoos are run by the same organisation, but nevertheless I very much enjoyed each on its own merits. For any zoo enthusiast visitor to NY, I would strongly recommend that you don’t miss out on them.
A zoo-based trip to New York City – Part Two (Central Park Zoo) So, my first NY zoo was Central Park. The highlight here is the tropical house, full of birds (a very wide range of species, maybe 40-50 if they are all those labelled are actually present, I couldn’t find them all) in a stunning walk-through arrangement. Planting is lush and very healthy and everywhere so clean. Not the denuded, guano stained, bird walk-through that I am used to! This is probably what the Clore should look like! I spent a good 2 hours (in 2 stints) in this house trying to find all the birds and get good photos (hindered slightly by no good surfaces on which to balance the camera, resulting in many shots being just slightly out of focus). Quite a few ‘life list’ ticks for me in here (although I don’t actually keep a list, it only counts for me if I get a picture). The species list includes Red Bird Of Paradise, Derbyan Parakeet, Blue-headed Macaw, Fawn-breasted Bowerbird, Troupial, hornbills, toucans, peafowl, various tropical pigeons, weavers and many, many more. There are also mammals, reptiles and amphibians here too (behind glass except for the Greater Malayan Mouse Deer, Rodrigues Flying Fox, neither of which I saw, and Asian Brown Tortoise) including Bolivian Grey Titi, Banded Mongoose, Black & White Ruffed Lemur, Slender-tailed Cloud Rat, Texas Tortoise, Amazon Tree Boa, Tentacled Snake, and Puerto Rican Crested Toad. I also very much enjoyed the Seabird and Penguin House and it associated outdoor enclosure. The outdoor enclosure houses 3 species of eider (Pacific, King and Spectacled) as well as Red-breasted Merganser and Long-tailed Duck. Inside the building there is a large (entirely indoor) penguin enclosure (King, Chinstrap, Gentoo) mixed with Eurasian Oystercatcher and Great Black-backed Gull. Also inside the Seabird House is the Puffin exhibit (an attractive and large rocky cliff with underwater viewing) containing both Atlantic and Tufted species mixed with Bufflehead (a first for me). Outside of these two houses, there is a centrally placed rocky pool for Californian Sealions, a large rocky island (in a large square pond, which made me think this enclosure had originally been used for a different species) housing Japanese Macaques, and, at the top of the hill above the macaques, spacious enclosures for Snow Leopard alongside a smaller enclosures for Red Panda and a aviary for Scaly-sided Merganser, Black Stork and other wildfowl. The Polar Bear enclosure was closed for renovation (not sure if this means for Polar Bears or something else?), so we didn’t see that. The final part of Central Park Zoo is the Children’s Zoo, which is separated from the zoo proper (the entry ticket includes both sections, however). Not too much of note here….a number of wildfowl species contained in a large walk-through aviary (including Smew and Red-breasted Merganser) and also a pair of Brown Eared Pheasant and a small side enclosure for Mara. And that was that, first one done. I guess we must have spent around 3 hours at the zoo in total. We had planned to do Bronx Zoo later in the week, but decided that evening to do it the next day as the weather was forecast to be very good.
I really enjoyed your review of New York and the Central Park Zoo, Newzooboy. Your perspective and detailed analysis of things is insightful and fun to read. Please do keep the reviews coming as very few people have reviewed the smaller zoos of New York City. If you have time can you please tell us your thoughts on the High Line and the natural history museum? Those are biology-related attractions that I don't think anyone here has really discussed (which makes sense as they aren't zoos). I'm particularly interested in what you thought of the High Line and what that was like.
A zoo-based trip to New York City – Part Three (Bronx Zoo AM) And so to the big one. Obviously, as a life-long zoo enthusiast, this is a zoo I have wanted to visit for a very long time. Despite being based in Brooklyn, our subway journey up to The Bronx was easy and not too long (about an hour ‘door to door’). We had intended to enter via the Asia Gate (nearest the subway), but we arrived too early for opening time, and so ended up grabbing a coffee and walking around the perimeter of the zoo to the Main Gate. There we awaited opening time with bus loads of school kids, who were all very excited (only slightly less than me ). The first thing to note was that this zoo is vast in terms of area and species held but a ‘winter’ visit is (probably) quite different from a summer one. As with most zoos, building work is most likely to take place in the winter months and there is also much here that is not viewable in the winter anyway. The Asia monorail does not run until the beginning of April and there are many of the larger animals (Asiatic Elephants, Indian Rhinos, etc) that can only be seen from the monorail. We visited on the cusp of the ‘winter’ and ‘summer’ seasons, and were told that the monorail was starting up that coming weekend (but we were there on the Tuesday before) so we missed out on that (in fact, the free visitor map provided in the ‘winter’ season does not even feature the monorail). The African hoofstock housed in the African savanna area is also off show during the winter months. The African carnivores and baboons can still be seen and the Giraffes can be seen indoors, but most other hoofstock (antelopes, gazelles, zebras, etc) cannot be seen. This seemed odd to us, since the day we were there was pretty warm and sunny but most of the large paddocks were devoid of any animals. I appreciate that most of these species cannot be kept outside during New York winters (which this year had only very recently ended) but seemed strange to stick rigidly to the timescale and not let the animals outside on such a warm, sunny day. I guess, they do have outside access on some sort of hard stand but the houses for these species do not have public access. Added to these ‘closures’, the number of species on show in Congo Gorilla Forest was also quite slim (really just the Gorillas and Wolf’s Guenon and the smaller indoor enclosures for small mammals, reptiles, fish and invertebrates), the Monkey House was closed (the sign said ‘monkeys can be viewed in Jungleworld and the Congo Forest’……well, yes, but not the same ones!!), the Children’s Zoo was closed for a complete renovation, and the exterior enclosures of the Zoo Center (with the exception of the White Rhino) were also under complete renovation along with the interior of the building (more of this later). The World Of Reptiles also had some work being undertaken on the exterior of the building, but was thankfully still open. All of this led to lots of long walks past empty enclosures between each house or set of occupied enclosures. I’m sure the zoo has a different feel in the summer, but the feel for us (away from the ‘central’ older area) was of lots of empty space with houses plonked randomly around (World of Birds, Jungleworld, Mouse House). So we started off in the Madagascar House. A really nice house with beautifully landscaped glass and wire-fronted enclosures for Madagascan species (mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds). Species exhibited here included an active pair of Coquerel’s Sifaka, Nile Crocodile, Ring-tailed, Collared and Red-ruffed Lemur, Ring-tailed Mongoose, Fosa, Red Fody, Vasa Parrot, Grey-headed Lovebird, Spiny Iguana, and many others (including European Starling! See my pictures!). On to our second (of five!) Californian Sealion enclosures. The enclosure at Bronx is very similar to the one at Central Park, a large rocky island in the middle of a medium sized pool, centrally placed in the middle of the older group of zoo buildings (most of which no longer hold any animals). From there we headed to the Birds Of Prey and Aquatic Bird House. Unfortunately the Birds Of Prey area was also closed for renovation work, so we only saw this from a distance. However, the Aquatic Bird House more than made up for this. What an absolute treasure! This house featured in the IZES Top 50 zoos enclosures, and I can totally see why. Entirely indoors, the bird enclosures are arranged in what I can only describe as a ‘museum style’ with ‘windows’ into gorgeously reproduced sections of a particular habitat (forest, swamp, beach, desert, etc). Many of the enclosures are open to the public hall, with only a stand off barrier, the birds obviously preferring to stay in their enclosures (especially when visitors are present) which very much aids viewing of species and photography. Some enclosures (usually where there are a group in the same hall) are, however, glass or wire fronted. We must have spent at least an hour in this house, sitting in front of each enclosure and trying to find all the labelled species, as well as finding quite a few un-labelled ones. Highlights and lifetime firsts for me were many, but included Anhinga, Guam Kingfisher, Great Blue Heron and Madagascan Crested Ibis (although I had seen the Ibis once before in Berlin), but there is so much great stuff to see here, even in just the house and exhibit design itself. There are also Tufted Puffins in a rocky cliff enclosure, similar to, but smaller than Central Park’s puffin exhibit. The biggest shock, however, was when I rounded a corner to be faced with a darkened enclosure labelled Southern Brown Kiwi. Now, I have since been informed (see pictures) that the Kiwi housed here are actually from the North island of New Zealand, however, either way I would have dearly loved to have seen them (I have never seen a living Kiwi). Sadly (and despite a return visit later in the day) it wasn’t to be . The Aquatic Bird House leads out onto the Sea Bird Aviary, a large walk-through affair with lots of rocks and open water. This aviary hold Magellanic Penguin (not seen) mixed with the following flying species – Guanay Cormorant, Inca Tern, Flying Steamer Duck, Black Oystercatcher and Laughing Gull (all seen). From here we walked, via the Fordham Fountain to the Bison Range, a large paddock housing American Bison, and from there to the World Of Birds. From the outside, the World Of Birds looks like a giant concrete monstrosity – a building style beloved by 70s and 80s zoo architects – and looks totally out of place in its forested setting. However, inside is a zoo exhibit possibly like no other in world. A vast, extensive house over three floors and dedicated entirely to birds. The visitor is confronted with stunningly landscaped enclosure after enclosure, many in the same open-fronted style of the Aquatic Bird House (on which the enclosures are clearly modelled). We spent around 2 hours in this house, and I could easily have stayed here all day, were there not much of the zoo still to see. A species list here would roll on for pages, but a few absolute highlights for me (all firsts) were Maleo, Beautiful Sunbird, Crested Tinamou, Golden-headed Quetzal, Lesser Bird Of Paradise, Western Capercaillie, Common Flicker, and Sulawesi Hornbill. On an absolute high to have actually seen the World of Birds with my own eyes, we eventually left, and moved on up the forest path towards Tiger Mountain. Tiger Mountain amounts to (I think) two large wooded enclosures housing the zoo’s group of Amur Tigers. The enclosures are both very large, but I’m not sure where the ‘mountain’ element comes from? I was also slightly disappointed to see the cats labelled simply as ‘tiger’ rather than to (sub) specific level. From here, we walked past the large wooded enclosure for Pere David’s Deer and back up towards the Zoo Center. Having first viewed the Southern White Rhinos in their outside enclosure we ventured into the Zoo Center building (the old elephant house). Not currently any living animals to see in here (the rhinos being outside). On one side of the interior are the new exhibits for Komodo Dragons and other monitors, which appeared to be complete but contained no lizards. A shame as one label indicated that the outermost vivarium will contain Australian Freckled and Yellow Spiny-tailed Monitor, neither of which I have seen before. The Komodo Dragon interior enclosure looked pretty spacious with much sand and mock rock, and there was much building work going on in the outdoor enclosures of the Zoo Center (I think these previously held Malayan Tapir and Babirusa) which I imagine will eventually form outside enclosures for the dragons. Inside, the other featured monitors will be Merten’s Water Monitor and Blue Tree Monitor. From the Zoo Center, we made our way South to the Dancing Crane Café for a much needed lunch break, and to work out our plan for the rest of the day. We decided to work our way around the perimeter of the African section (taking in Jungleworld along the way), ending up at the Mouse House (from where I would make another sortie (alone!) back into Astor Court and the Aquatic Bird House to try and get a glimpse of the Kiwi). We would then hopefully make World Of Reptiles before it closed and then complete our day with the bears and Himalayan Highlands, and leave by the Asia Gate.
Thanks David......very glad you are enjoying it.....hopefully I can complete before I run out of time, but is clearly a bit longer than I had originally envisaged...still, if you are going to do something, might as well do it properly!! I'll try and add some impressions of the non-zoo stuff at the end.
A zoo-based trip to New York City – Part Four (Bronx Zoo PM) So we kicked off the afternoon at Bronx Zoo by heading straight to the Congo Gorilla Forest exhibit. This set of enclosures usually incurs an additional entrance fee, but is free in the winter season. I guess this is because many of the larger species are off-shore during colder weather. However, despite the warm, sunny day we walked past spacious, imaginatively landscaped enclosure after enclosure, all labelled with interesting African forest species (Maxwell’s Duiker, Colobus Monkey, De Brazza Monkey, Mandrill, Red River Hog, Okapi) without seeing a single animal. I was especially interested to see the duiker as I had not previously seen this species, but unfortunately I didn’t see it here. We did see the group of Wolf’s Guenon at close quarters in one of the interior enclosures, which was pleasing (I’d only seen this species once before, in South Africa. I don’t think there are any of these in Europe) and also the Western Lowland Gorilla family, also in their interior enclosure. Overall, I thought the exhibit looked great, and I enjoyed the small animals in the main hall, but obviously it would have been better if my pictures of the enclosures had actually featured some animals. I suspect a very different experience could be had here in the height of summer. From the Gorilla Forest, we headed down past the African Wild Dog and Spotted Hyena enclosures, with particularly good views of the latter, to the Carter Giraffe Building. The building itself (which the hyena enclosure sits beside) is a long brick structure with a characteristic tall roofed ‘giraffe barn’ at one end. Inside is the indoor Giraffe accommodation, along with a couple of satellite enclosures, one darkened for Aardvark and the other for Dwarf Mongoose (neither seen, although the Giraffes (a small group) were visible). We left the Giraffe House and started our long walk east towards Jungleworld, passing large, open paddocks for Grevy’s Zebra (not on show as noted earlier) and the main African Plains exhibit (also empty). So to Jungleworld, another exhibit I was very much looking forward to seeing having read so much about it over the years. Again this usually requires a separate entrance fee, but we had already covered this with our ‘all attractions’ ticket bought at the start of the day, so just needed to produce said ticket. All in all, I enjoyed Jungleworld, the entirely indoor, artificial landscapes are creative and the background planting well maintained, but as with all of these type of ‘immersive’ exhibits it fails in the animal areas themselves, because of the lack of plants. While an immersive exhibit containing only birds (e.g. Central Park’s tropical house) can include dense planting in the animal areas, those housing mammals, especially primates, find that the animals strip away the vegetation (or the knowledge that they will means that the design keeps them separate from the planting). Thus, the large enclosures for Javan Langur and Silvered Langur looked to me like a rainforest or mangrove forest after some localised man-made disaster had caused all the plants to die in a sort of reverse oasis, the monkeys living in the dead stumps of the last trees, surrounded by living forest but never able to reach it. That said, the White-cheeked Gibbons did appear to be able to move at liberty through the lush planting in the highest parts of the house, and to see them swinging through the trees, in the distance, above the tapir enclosure, did look very natural indeed. Unfortunately the Malayan Tapir enclosure is one of the smallest and worse I have ever seen for this species. Other smaller enclosures contained Matchie’s Tree Kangaroo and Oriental Short-clawed Otter. There are also a number of bird species at liberty throughout the house (although very few were seen) and turtles in the ponds. I remember being mightily impressed by Jungleword when I read about it in National Geographic in the late 1980s. In those days of course it housed Proboscis Monkey and Gharial, but even without these iconic species, it is still a wonderful house. At almost 30 years old, however, maybe it is now time for a re-think regarding the species kept in here. After Jungleword, we made our way back up to African Plains area and up past the pride of African Lions (on show) and a couple more empty hoofstock enclosures. We then had a quick look around the Somba Village (mostly closed) and then on to the Baboon Reserve. This large hilled enclosure houses mixed groups of Gelada, Nubian Ibex and Rock Hyrax on grass and rocks. All very effective and attractive. I then took a quick detour up to the (closed) World Of Darkness building, just to get some photos and some sense of what it was like. A real shame that this exhibit isn’t open these days. Our next port of call was the Mouse House. Another of our favourites. This is effectively a small mammal house in the 70s/80S style (long straight public space with small glass-fronted exhibits on either site). As the name suggests, this house is now the domain of mainly small rodents, but did also feature some larger rodent species (Acouchi, Rock Cavy, North Luzon Cloud Rat, Harris’s Antelope Squirrel) plus one or two non-rodents (Eastern Spotted Skunk, Golden-headed Lion Tamarin). Each enclosure held a little gem and we enjoyed a good 40 minutes here, testing the limits of our photographic skill (small, fast moving creatures). The undoubted highlight (and a life time first for me) was the Damaraland Mole Rat, an endearing little creature with black and white markings, buck teeth and the tendency to walk backwards! After the Mouse House, my wife took a break by the Bug Carousel, while I headed back to Aquatic Bird House to try and see the Kiwi. I didn’t see it, but did see the Guam Kingfisher (missed on the initial visit) so definitely worth the extra walking. Onto the World Of Reptiles next, an older style house crammed with vivaria of all sizes for snakes, turtles/ tortoises, lizards, frogs/ toads and crocodilians in the shape of False Gharial. As always, it was the smaller creatures which seem to suck up the time and we were in World Of Reptiles for around 45 minutes. Lots of lifetime firsts for me (although I always find reptile houses the most difficult photographically…..must invest in a macro lens!), including Four-eyed Turtle, Volcan Darwin Tortoise, Kihansi Spray Toad, Shield-tailed Dwarf Agama and Long-headed Scaly-foot. We completed our day with the bears and Himalayan Highlands, just catching a glimpse of the Grizzlies before they disappeared behind the large rock in their spacious enclosure. The less said about the Polar Bear exhibit the better (one bear seen) and I wonder if this species will be around much longer in New York. The Himalayan Highlands includes landscaped enclosures for Snow Leopard, Red Panda and White-naped Crane, although only the cranes were seen. And so back to the subway via the Asia Gate. My overall impression of the Bronx Zoo was overwhelmingly positive, although obviously I would have liked to have also seen the larger mammals on the African Plains and Wild Asia monorail. The highlights were the smaller animals, however, especially the birds - undoubtedly a collection rivalled by only a few other zoos in the world and presented in a way I had never experienced before.
Thanks devilfish, very glad you are enjoying it. Hopefully will add some more soon. Yes, the trip was something I had wanted to do for some years so was fantastic to actually be there.
Very nice Review-have you seen Silvery Marmoset in the rainforest ? They were kept in a serperate Glass Exhibit-but maybe, there are now the Grey Titis in this exhibit ? What Birds were in the first Aviary in the entrance area , toucans ?
Reading your review I regret that you couldn't visit a month or two later when everyone would be on exhibit! Wonderful that you so enjoyed a winter visit
just out of interest, which month would be the best to visit the Bronx Zoo? i.e. everything on exhibit, weather comfortable (not too hot, not too much rain, etc).
A zoo-based trip to New York City – Part Five (Queens Zoo Before I start this part of the review, I have to say that Queens Zoo was my favourite of the small New York Zoos (Queens, Central Park, Prospect Park). The warm, sunny weather and another easy (45 minute) subway journey from Brooklyn to Flushing (with excellent views over Manhattan once the train moved above ground) definitely helped, and I’m sure the fact that I saw my first Pronghorn and Coyote was also a factor, but I really enjoyed this zoo’s open feel and the fact that it does a little very well. It is tucked away in the Flushing Meadows Corona Park, just around the corner from the science museum, and only a short 15 minute walk from the subway. Unlike the other New York zoos, there are no buildings or animal houses to speak of at Queens, and no central paved area with sealion enclosure (although there are sealions) which seems to form the basic design of the older sections of the others. As with Central Park, the entrance price includes a separate Children’s Zoo which has its own entrance (across the path from the zoo proper). The Children’s Zoo here contains only domestic animals, however. The overall arrangement of the zoo is a large oval with most of the enclosures in the centre and the visitor path around the perimeter looking in. It’s absolutely impossible to miss anything, as you just walk around in a big circle! The collection is exclusively American, although both North and South are represented. Upon entering the zoo, I headed right (the opposite direction to the throngs of school kids ) and immediately came upon the first enclosure, for Spectacled Bear. The bears (I assume plural, although I only saw one asleep under a shelter) inhabit a large grass hillside exhibit with rocky outcrops. A good start! Next up is a large aviary for a very active flock of Thick-billed Parrots (I counted at least a dozen birds). The aviary is constructed from a light mesh but viewing is via a long window which takes in much of the enclosure so it was easy to see and photograph the birds. Really nice to see such a large group of this very attractive parrot. I have certainly visited collections in Europe that kept this species, but not sure I have actually seen one before. Would need to check my old photos. Following the path around the next exhibit is a sunken, forested enclosure for Chacoan Peccary. Viewing is from above, which means no barrier but the authentically planted enclosure could have hidden the animals (two seen) if they had not been rooting around near the front of the enclosure. I had seen this species once before at Berlin Tierpark, but my photos from there weren’t great, so fantastic to have an opportunity to improve on them. From the peccaries, the path leads around the corner into a sort of alcove with a large viewing window into the Southern Pudu enclosure. This enclosure is thickly bambooed but again my luck was in, and the pair of pudu were feeding in the area around the window. It was not so long ago that I saw this species at almost every zoo I visited in Europe, but in recent years it has fallen out of favour (or the original stock have died out) and I now see it much less frequently, especially in the UK. And so to the highlight of the day. I round the next corner to be confronted with a wide grassy, slightly raised, paddock containing three or four reclining American Bison. Nice enough, but then I noticed the sign and realised that this enclosure also contained the Pronghorn. And there they were! Four animals, all sitting by the far fence, a way away, but close enough to view easily (and well within reach my zoom lens, appropriately stabilised on the Pronghorn signage!). I spent a good 25 minutes watching them and taking photos as they moved up onto the hillock in the centre of the enclosure (and I also returned for more later). The US readers of this will probably be wondering what all the fuss is about, but of course there are no Pronghorn in European zoos, and thus I had not seen this species before. A real treat, and well worth the visit to Queens Zoo alone. So, main purpose of the visit achieved, I eventually wandered on. Immediately to the right of the bison/ pronghorn enclosure (as you face it) is the inevitable Californian Sealion pool. There is a also a small restaurant/ café in this area, although I didn’t partake as I was due to meet my wife at Grand Central for lunch, after the zoo. The sealion pool at Queens is probably the best of the five I saw on my New York visit – being much less formal in design, and larger, than the ones at Central Park, Bronx or Prospect Park. From this area, walking North, the next enclosure is for Coyote. Again, this will probably seem hard to believe for US members, but this was also the first time I had seen this species! Maybe not endangered in the wild, but very rare in European Zoos. The coyotes inhabit a vast space (compared to their size) which is planted out like their native habitat – all grasses and low shrubs. Public access is via a wooden bridge over the enclosure and this affords excellent views of the animals. Standing on the bridge watching the coyotes stalking the grass really invoked a feeling of watching these animals on the prairies from a wooden hut. An authentic an ‘immersive’ experience as it gets, and certainly far more convincing than concrete trees! After the coyotes, I rounded the corner to reach the far northern perimeter of the zoo. Here (looking into the centre of zoo) is a large wooded paddock for a small herd of Roosevelt’s Elk (assume these are the same as Roosevelt’s Wapiti, although some issue of labelling on the enclosure in terms of latin name?...either way, another first for me), and looking outward is the large walk-through aviary. The aviary was constructed for the 1964 World Fair in Queens (as the Winston Churchill Pavilion!!), and was moved to the zoo after the end of the fair. In the summer this giant walk-through aviary holds a range of parrots in the shape of macaws and conures (Monk Parakeets can be seen all year around) but these were still off-show as it was still the ‘winter’ season (just!!). However, the real charm of this aviary is that is holds a wide range of American songbirds (a very rare circumstance in any zoo). Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Common Grackle, American Robin, Dark-eyed Junco, Northern Waterthrush, Gray Catbird, Northern Cardinal, Common Yellowthroat and English Sparrow (yes, really!!) are all held in here, along with Northern Bobwhite Quail, and a range of wildfowl (including Argentine Ruddy Duck and Cinnamon Teal). The aviary is huge and well-planted so the bird spotting is difficult but the raised walkways, and a bit of patience, paid off and I saw quite a few of the species listed above (many which were first for me). I loved this aviary almost as much as the mammal exhibits, and spent the majority of the remainder of the morning in here, awaiting the (fairly rapid) passing of the schoolchildren and basking in the quiet and sunshine as the birds showed themselves. The final exhibits (walking from the aviary back towards the entrance) are a spacious rocky and forested, wired enclosures for Puma and Canadian Lynx, both with viewing through the wire and via large windows, a bizarre open enclosure for some (obviously flightless) Bald Eagles, with just a water barrier and viewing from a bridge which extends over a wildfowl marsh and (on the other side of the bridge) open enclosures for a pair of nesting Sandhill Cranes and (off show) American Alligators. I ventured back to the Pronghorn and Coyote enclosures for a few more pictures and then bade my farewell to this, the smallest (by species), but most perfectly formed, of New York’s animal collections.
Thank you. No Silvery Marmosets seen. Yes, I think they have been replaced by the titi monkeys in a glass-fronted exhibit by the mongoose. The first aviary - before you enter the house proper held macaws.
Would have been nice, but work trips in May precluded this (although I will get to see Basel and Amsterdam zoos, so has its up side ). Next time I'll come in May or Sept.......and there will be a next time!
A zoo-based trip to New York City – Part Six (New York Aquarium) Next up was New York Aquarium. Only half of the aquarium site is currently open following extensive damage caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, with the ruined parts undergoing extensive and lengthy re-development. Nevertheless I was keen to visit, and particularly to see the Walrus and Sea Otters. Neither of these species were actually firsts for me, but my previous viewings (Hamburg and Antwerp respectively) had been less than satisfying, and I hoped to get some good pictures. I wasn’t to be disappointed. It is worth saying, however, that this was never an extensive establishment and, in its reduced form, it is far from a day out. We stretched our visit to around two and a half hours (also taking in the sealion show), but (currently) everything can be viewed in much less time than that. Entry to the aquarium is via the only currently open indoor element – a series of tanks for (mostly marine) fish – before you exit out into the marine mammal/ penguin area. The first tank is the largest and holds a wide array of larger reef species including hogfish, green moray, various butterflyfish, angelfish, bass and snapper. Following this are a series of smaller reef aquaria holding live corals and smaller species of reef fish. There is also a Lake Victoria cichlid tank and a South American tank with Pacu, etc. Not much to write home about really! Outside are a series of rocky enclosures with large, deep pools. These hold Walrus (two females), Sea Otter (a pair I think, held in separate enclosures), Californian Sealion (again!), Common (Harbour) Seal, and a small colony of Black-footed Penguin. The sealions can also be seen in a show which takes place in a separate performance stadium (usual affair…..all very blue and looking like a swimming pool showroom). Only the Walrus enclosure is covered (with rope like netting) and I wonder why this is……older photographs appear to suggest it wasn’t always so. Possibly it is to prevent people throwing coins, etc into the pool/ at the animals and it could be that the Walrus are more sensitive to this contamination than the other species, being bottom feeders? And that is just about the sum of it. It was great to finally get excellent views and good quality photographs of both the Walrus and Sea Otter, but beyond these two species I found the place a bit disappointing. Hopefully the re-development will add a lot and (re?) elevate the aquarium to world class status. If you do make the effort to go down to Coney Island while in New York, be sure to take a walk along the beach after you leave the aquarium. Very weird, being in such a big city but then strolling along a very English looking, old fashioned promenade with sandy beach on one side and amusements/ fairground rides on the other. Reminded me of Southend-On-Sea!
