Snowdon aviary question » ZSL London Zoo

Snowdon aviary question
17-06-2012

Does anyone have a list of the birds that lived in snowdon aviary when it first opened? I know it had spoonbills and crowned cranes but does anyone know what else?

17-06-2012

I've always wondered about this too. Was the aviary designed to hold specific bird species, or was it designed to "make an architectural statement" with the species being an afterthought?

17-06-2012

Just found this.TOP BIRDS FOR LUXURY AVIARY - British Path

From the look of it Alpine Choughs, African (?)Spoonbills, Grey-necked Crowned Cranes were definitely there in 1965.

17-06-2012

Is there an inventory list anywhere for the time?

17-06-2012

Ian, I was just reading about the history of the Snowdon Aviary and see that the "arboreal elephant" house was built at the same time. Was there other similarly weird architecture going up in London at this time in the early 1960s, or was it mainly inflicted on the zoo?

Snowdon aviary question
17-06-2012

Somewhere I have a single page colour guide to what was in threre in the early days; if I even find it, I'll give details on here. However, I'm almost sure I remember Black-headed Herons, Grey-headed and Silver Gulls, Golden Pheasants, Black-headed Sibias ansd some sort of Touraco.

17-06-2012

"... similiarly weird architecture" – well, the first one that comes to mind was the Post Office Tower, pretty controversial at the time. And Centrepoint and "Space House" the circular block off Kingsway. All what I would call innovative and imaginative... It was the 60s, after all!!

17-06-2012

Yes, and also housing people with young families in high rise tower blocks with no garden to play in, only a small balcony, which wasn't safe in case the kids climbed over and fell to the ground, this is where the two children lived who used to visit London Zoo in the sixties with me, no wonder they went wild when getting off the tube when walking through Regent's Park on our way to the zoo.

17-06-2012

I remember visiting the Post Office Tower in the sixties, when you could go up to the top and admire the view of London, there were telescopes available I remember looking through one, looking for you know where, and I found it!

18-06-2012

Okay...here goes,if i were a quicker typer you would be in luck as the 1966 guide to the zoo[which isnt rare] had a now-very- scarce insert about the Snowdon Aviary[as mentioned by FBBird] showing all the inhabitants.According to the insert there were 45 species in the aviary..most are not too surprising but oddities included Lanceolated and Sikkim taxa of jays,Wandering Tree Pie,Black-headed Heron and Kittiwake.

18-06-2012

Hi Gilgamesh, if you PM me your address, the Bartlett Society will be happy to photocopy for you the original 1966 leaflet, mentioned by both FBBird and Tim Brown.

18-06-2012

Oh good..the Bartlett library now comes into its own[and theres a moot point zooman64] and solves the problem.Sorry to be a tease in the first place but the prospect of typing out the list was a bit of a bind to be honest.

22-06-2012

I have uploaded scans of the leaflet:

View of the aviary
Description
Species 1
Species 2

22-06-2012

Thanks for doing that, Rob, as I'm sure many other zoochatters, not just Gilgamesh, are interested to learn more as well, and my limited technical ability prevents me from scanning and uploading stuff myself.

22-06-2012

You still can if you attend the right meetings! I went up a twice a few years ago.