Starting a new thread about birdparks in general with the question, if there are more "true"birdparks in North america than the National Aviary in Pittsburgh ? Were there any birdparks in the past, which are now closed ?
Many, many in the days of the commercial bird trade .... Peakirk, Norton, Melchbourne, Pheonix, Stagsden, Lilford, Clopton, Cromer, Brambles, Smallborough all within a few miles of us, without going any wider... It will be a long list by the time you have finished it ... !
@Andrew Swales My question was actually related to the United States, I wouldn't have talked about bird parks in Uk until later, but it didn't matter.. Yes, Birdparks were widespread in the UK, I guess, more than in any other country in europe or maybe worldwide, and a few of them are still operating. But why ? Were there any special reasons for such a high level of interest in birds in the UK ? I'm currently doing little bit of resarch about birdparks. It is a pity that there is hardly any information available about Winged World in Heysham, for example. The park is very interesting for me because it made a 1: 1 replica of the bird house that opened in Frankfurt Zoo in 1961. I would like to know how this house was structured - there was probably also the entrance to the park. The house in Frankfurt still has a hall for small birds, the main hall and the free flight hall. Does this house still exist, and if so, how is it used today? @Jana Thank you for this information - there is a really , a true,bigger outdoor bird park in the USA. The National Aviary Pittsburgh website says they are the only bird park in America. I have already found three, Niagara Falls has had the Bird Kingdom since 2003, but this is only indoors.
... sorry - it was in the general zoo discussion thread... There has been some discussion of Winged World on here, but not my (geographical) area, I am afraid.
There was a Busch Gardens park in Los Angeles that was mostly focused on birds. It closed in 1979. LAistory: Busch Gardens in Van Nuys
Sylvan Heights comes to mind. I also thought there was one in California, but I can't remember the name.
I'm not sure what your definition of a "true bird park" is, but it was a park focused on birds, so in that sense, it was a real bird park. The theme park aspects were closed down and the park reopened as a bird park.
Yes - of course..! also locally, Coton Manor (pushing it a bit maybe..), Guilsborough Grange Bird Park (initially), Flamingo Gardens & Tropical Bird Zoo (initially), and Coombe Abbey too, plus all the others further away like Symonds Yat, Bridgemere (birds initially), Midland, Padstow, Merley, Rode, Ventnor IoW, Flamingo Park IoW, Wold Pottery, Wellplace, Clee Hill etc, pretty sure Penscynor was just birds to start with. More that I cant remember at - Closed collections - The Bartlett Society
And of course, a more recent and (given the breadth of the collection) bigger blow to captive diversity was the loss of Blackbrook Zoo some years ago......
How stupid of me to miss such an obvious and major one, thanks - one senior moment after another, and a head full of other stuff...
They’re mostly pretty tiny and fairly rubbish but there were (are?) an extraordinary number of little bird parks in your neck of the woods, of course, south of Frankfurt. And I’d swap all of the Stagsdens and Cromers and Padstows - lovely though I’m sure they all were - for one Walsrode...
Famous Avalon Bird Park on Santa Catalina Island, California. Opened probably in 1929 and closed in 1966. Maybe the world’s largest bird park at the time - more than 500 cages housed up to 8000 birds. Admission was free.
I had no idea that place existed! There is a brief history and some film of it here: A Step Back in Time: Bird Park
As Sooty said, there have been no Walsrodes or even Avifaunas in the UK. Two of the best have survived at Birdworld and Birdland, although perhaps shadows of their former selves? - but there were some of the others which stood well above the rest, Olney and Kelling springing to mind. Some of the others were important but scruffy, like Stagsden and Rode. Many of the others were pretty poor to dreadful even for their day, though some were nice like Midland, Padstow and Ventnor. Many were private collections which had overgrown themselves, but many a zoo goes back to these same origins! Blackbrook of course is an exception, as it is much more recent. At the time there was a culture of bird-keeping. From post-war years working-class people people bred pigeons, and budgies, canaries and poultry, plus 'foreign' birds. This was fed by the huge commercial bird trade. Also returnees from the remnants of Empire brought back a culture of shooting and an interest in pheasants and waterfowl both of which were very popular with breeders. 'Animal people' from this era onwards were (and are!) the famous names like Lilford, Bedford, Ezra and Delacour, Grahame, Wayre, Scott, Sims... Bird Gardens/Parks were cheap to set up as public expectations were pretty low, there was a ready market for the progeny if you were good at it, and a ready supply of imported new stock if you weren't. Those days have largely gone, the birds replaced by reptiles which are the modern fashion..
Paradise Park is one of the long-term survivors. A family run park, with the best parrot collection and one of the best bird collections in UK.
