Hey zoo fans! I've just gotten into Zoo Chat recently, and I want to contribute. I volunteer very frequently and have a pretty substantial knowledge of the animals of the zoo, so if you have any questions about anything Houston Zoo related, please let me know!
If you are able to share, do you know any species that are coming for the new World of Birds exhibit?
South America: Chilean Flamingo, Roseate Spoonbill, Scarlet Ibis, Brazilian Teal, Southern Lapwing, Wood Storks Boat-Billed Heron (possibly Orinoco Goose) North America: Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Painted Bunting, Rose-Breasted Grosbeak, Northern Bobwhite Quail, House Finch, Gray Catbird (possibly Yellow-Billed Cuckoo) Africa: Cape Vulture, Hooded Vulture, Rüppell's Vulture, Gray Crowned Crane, Great Blue Turaco, Hammerkop, Vulturine Guineafowl, Radiated Tortoise, (possibly Malagasy Sacred Ibis) These are not confirmed!!! This was the information circa last summer, and there will probably be more birds than this as well. The South America exhibits will be fully walkthrough, the Africa exhibit is not a walkthrough, and the North America Exhibit will have a small inside viewing area. For the South America Aviary, the Chilean Flamingos, Roseate Spoonbills, Brazilian Teal, Wood Storks, and Southern Lapwings are alread at the zoo. The Wood Storks are in the savannah aviary, the Brazilian Teals and Roseate Spoonbills are in the wading bird aviary, the flamingos are in the primates section, and there are some lapwings both behind the scenes, and in the savannah aviary, so I don't know which will be on the scenes. In the North America aviary, I know almost nothing. Sorry! The Africa aviary is really exciting! I'm assuming the radiated tortoises are going to be the pickle parents (Mr. and Mrs. Pickles). The reason I believe this is because the picklettes are still really little. Highly reccomend seeing them in the reptile house I'm in love with them. The vultures are the ones currently in the carnivore section. We have Mazghoul and Ziggy the cape vultures, Dizzy and Buzzy the hooded vultures, and my sweet sweet baby, Bruce the Rüppell's vulture. I've heard mixed messages about the Malagasy Sacred Ibis being on exhibit, so don't hold your breath. If you have any other questions please let me know!
Do you know anything about what will happen with the birds that used to be in the indoor aviary in the Natural Encounters building (superb starling etc.)? I love those guys and hoped they’d be in Birds of the World since many (all? can’t quite remember) were African.
They need to put the Trumpeter Swans and Shoebills in North America and Africa aviary areas as well. Even the Blue Footed Booby could go in the South American Aviary as Blue Footed Boobies can be found outside Galapagos Island and in South America areas.
I don't think they're going in the Africa Aviary because they're too small. We have them behind the scenes right now and I don't know what the end plan with them is but I miss them too.
We don't have blue footed boobies or shoebills (sadly they're one of my favorites) and I'm pretty sure they're not even a possibility considering the lack of them in AZA. That being said, while I've heard nothing about them, I could totally see Trumpeter Swans happening.
Sure I got questions. Is Birds of the world still on for this summer? What kind of upgrades should we expect from Birds of the world vs the previous bird garden and bird house? Is Ancient Ancestors as a combination of birds and reptiles still a thing? If not what’s happening to the reptiles? With the initial phase of upgrades for the whole new zoo complete, which area is next up? Lastly, of the planned new exhibits which are you most excited for and why? Thanks!
1. I believe so. Last I heard birds move in late May early June and the exhibit will open soon after that. That being said there may have been delays in the past couple months. 2. The aviaries are going to be much bigger and more pretty. For how iconic the bird house was, it was also very outdated and not great for the birds. It'll be more like a heavily updated version of the bird gardens with bigger and better enclosures, and interesting mixed species aviaries. 3. I've heard nothing about ancient ancestors, so I doubt its happening. They've been redoing bits of the reptile house to make it nicer for the animals, like in the frog sections, but I think the long term plan is to just stay in that building for now. 4. Aside from Jack's Cafe, I've heard that the zoo is going to hit the breaks for the next couple of years. After that I have no idea whats coming. I have heard talks of the possibility of a Madagascar exhibit which would be super cool, but that's just speculation. Moral of the story is don't expect any big new exhibits for a while. Probably just smaller exhibit renovations like what they did with the new black bear enclosure from a few years ago. 5. Because nothings confirmed, I'm just going to give you my dream renovation that in no possible way would ever happen . Natural Encounters is replaced with a Madagascar exhibit, Children's Zoo is replaced with a North American exhibit, Primates, Elephants, and parts of Carnivores become an Asia exhibit, and Hoofrun, African Forest, and parts of Carnivores become a Congo exhibit.
Boy, that sure sounds a lot like this public document. ;-) https://s28164.pcdn.co/files/Strat_Plan_Book_MF_3.20.20_Web.pdf so Natural Encounters > Madagascar next (once funds are available). Got it.
I wish there was one or two more small aquariums throughout the exhibit. Sometimes it feels like there is a lot of dead space. Also, while the ramp down to the sea lion tunnel is super cool, I've started refering to it as the bowling alley because parents would let strollers go and take out rows of children. Very funny, but not great. That being said its important to think about this more as a new aquarium building + a tortoise exhibit. Thats all it really is, especially with no animals actually from Galapagos. For me, the lack of birds really hurts it, but the crabs are cool! That being said I totally get all the limitations it was under, so these are just nitpicks. I think the exhibit does what it wants to do easily and passes with flying colors.
Personally I feel like the following areas are gonna stay the same way once the zoo is completely done with the master plan: Gorillas, Chimps, and Elephant bachelor yard.
