razor-billed curassow aviary

I don't think we're sad...

Yup, that was the one I was meaning.

The kookaburra would not have been in that block above, as that is now the Chimpanzee cage, where Janie lives, and it is also shown as holding chimps in the 1980s map (and as empty in 1979, and as holding birds of prey earlier). I think it is probably part of the curassow aviary block, but toward the other end. Even though in the aerial photo all these aviaries appear to be the same height, and this one appears to be shorter than that for the curassow, this can be explained by the slope of the site, which would allow a taller aviary to the right. This is the same with the aviaries there today, although those on higher ground have been built taller. Here is a pic to explain, the aviary closest to camera is where the curassow likely was.

Yes, I think we are now in definite agreement over the location of the curassow aviary.

However, I do not think that you are right in regard to the location of the kookaburra aviary, which I still think was to the left of the curassow aviary (if you were looking at it as a visitor), in the same block.

Here is a photo of the aviary that you circled as the kookaburra aviary, which is not as deep as the other aviaries, and also has a taller central aviary, which is different to the kookaburra aviary.

Just to disagree a little bit more, I don't think its that sad, I'm having quite a bit of fun here.

Yes, I see that that is not present, but there could have been changes in the intervening 15 or so years between the late 1970s and 1992 (not clutching at straws here). I still think the kookaburra aviary was in the same block.

Further down the path, there is only the aviary with the taller central cage I posted a photo of before on the left, followed by the Japanese Garden (again, I don't know what this replaced, but it still predates the photos we are discussing). On the opposite side is a weird exhibit surrounded by low rock walls and some wide mesh fences, which I believe may have been built for ratites, and more recently held mara, and now parma wallabies, with a small exhibit with a pond at the end which held Carolina wood ducks until recently and is now empty. Beyond this is the black cockatoo aviary, followed by a distinctive long aviary with a rounded roof and end, which holds lovebirds. The stream then runs through this part of the zoo, with a small bridge that takes you past a small exhibit for a sulphur-crested cockatoo (not an aviary) to the original freeflight aviary (1922) which now holds blue & yellow macaws and sun conures. The peafowl exhibit has been renovated extensively, and has held Galapagos tortoises for a number of years now.

So there is no room in that area at all for the kookaburra aviary, especially given the presence of aviaries either side of it, except for the block at the top. I also can't think of any other places in the zoo where such a block could have been, I would have thought that a block of aviaries would have appeared on a map, although could believe that an individual aviary might have been omitted.

Well, yeah, the Hardy Boys reference does make it seem a little sad.

Yes it does seem odd, and quite frustrating too, as I very much doubt that visitor viewing from the rear would not have been possible, although may have been possible through the side, if the shubbery was not too thick. There seems to be a picnic table near this back aviary visible in the aerial photo, although that had likely gone by 1992.

In terms of the hut, the 1992 census suggests plenty of tortoises that could have lived in here, as well as agouti, but no other realistic candidates, except possibly ground fowl, such as pheasants? I also think that it might be unsuitable for tortoises, unless purely summer accomodation, as there is no room for a heat lamp.