Interior of Walkthrough Aviary

March 2010

Are all of those pigeons in this aviary? How many different species were there all up?

There were ots of different species of pigeons, and a few other non-pigeons species too, but the pigeons dominated in both individual numbers and number of species.

Barbary, Crested, White-headed, Wonga, Emerald, Nicobar, New Guinea Ground, Brush Bronzewing, Bar-shouldered, Talpacoti and Luzon Bleeding Hearts.

Looks like an interesting display then but I bet it'd be a pain in the ass to clean.

Hix, is the roof of the aviary mesh or tin?

I don't think I've seen an aviary with all solid walls before.

Good point, Pat. With so many pigeons, the mess would be a daily issue. I bet somebody has to do a daily job with scrubbing brushes and pressurized water cleaners.You certainly would not want that level of maintenance in any aviary of highly-strung birds where breeding is a priority.Of course, most pigeon species are among the less nervous birds, so that may not be too much of an issue here.

You need to get out more!

Ok, I've only been to about 15 different zoos - but Ive never seen an aviary that didn't have mesh on at least one side.

On KI, I wouldnt be keeping Nicobars in anything less! McKechnies also have a solid sided Walk through aviary.

To be honest, I used the term aviary because "walkthrough shed" just doesn't have the same ring to it. But essentially, it is a giant zincalume shed with a gabled roof. However, the zincalume panels in the middle of the roof along it's length have been replaced with mesh so there is plenty of natural light and rainfall within the shed.

You can get an idea of what I mean from these shots:

http://www.zoochat.com/761/interior-walkthrough-aviary-144012/
http://www.zoochat.com/761/interior-walkthrough-aviary-144010/

Parndana is a privately run wildlife park that subsists on gate takings and donations. I suspect this may have originally been a farm shed that was converted for this purpose. As Ben says, it can get quite chilly on KI, and the wind chill factor would make things even worse. By "McKechnies" I assume you mean Gorge Wildlife Park - they have a very similar setup.