Rotunda Building - Wader bird aviary

The Rotunda Building consists of a central brick and white hardstone pavilion, originally surrounded on all sides by aviaries. The core of the building was designed by Charles Servais and constructed in 1879. The building has been modified and renovated several times since.

Until 2013 the building served as a block of aviaries, with rows of aviaries on both sides, a wader bird aviary at one end (the end where now the penguin pool is located) and the Caribbean flamingo enclosure on the other end.

The for now final renovation and repurposing took place for most of the building in 2013-2014, and in 2015-2016 for the Caribbean flamingo enclosure. During the 2013-2014 renovation and repurposing the building itself was restored both inside (including the construction of modern indoor housing) and outside and the aviaries surrounding it, as well as their vegetation were removed to make this beautiful old building and its aesthetic and heritage value much more striking, appealing and present visually.

On one side of the building an aviary was built with new decorative frames. This is the new wader bird aviary, replacing the old one at the end of the building. The former location of the wader bird aviary and the former aviary block on the other side of the building were transformed into an enclosure for black-footed penguins, also known as African penguins or jackass penguins (Spheniscus demersus).

Currently the wader bird aviary is home to the following bird species:
- Eurasian Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) [Still a sign present at the aviary, but I haven't seen one for some time]
- Bernier's teal (Anas bernieri) [Also still signed at the aviary, but I haven't seen these either for some time]
- Pied avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)
- Redshank (Tringa totanus)
- Ruff (Philomachus pugnax)
- Hoopoe (Upupa epops)

Until recently black-winged stilts (Himantopus himantopus) were also in this aviary, but they have since moved to the Mediterranean aviary at the Bird House.

In the background one can see the gorgeous Antwerp Central Station. The station has quite a dominant presence as a decor and a backdrop throughout much of Zoo Antwerpen. Luckily it happens to be the most beautiful train station in Belgium. It was constructed between 1899 and 1905 (the same time during which many defining buildings in the Zoo itself were also built) and was beautifully restaured and rebuilt on the inside and outside over the course of several decades, from the mid-eighties until the end of the nillies.

Sources (In Dutch):
Dierentuin - Rotonde volière
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My own photographic archive
Signs present and observations made at this aviary
Station Antwerpen-Centraal - Wikipedia

Your updates about Antwerp Zoo are fantastic. Maybe I shouldn't visit next summer as I already have a great deal of knowledge about the facility. Ha!

@snowleopard Thank you very much. I will try to continue these. Maybe I'm just strange, but gaining knowledge about and seeing pictures of something usually make me more curious and more eager to visit the facility. I assume I have been able to inform you and amuse you rather than scare you away from visiting Antwerp and I hope you continue to enjoy these.

Just a little update... I haven't been feeling too well and very low on energy for a few days now and therefore I have not been able to continue my updates and information about Zoo Antwerpen.

I still plan to continue and finish these whenever I can, which I hope will be as soon as possible.