Bronx Zoo Bronx Zoo News 2022

Apologies if an annual news thread already exists, I did not find one in my quick search of the forums.

I visited the zoo last week and have a few changes to note:
-The former Blue-Fronted Amazon aviary in World of Birds has been updated to house Congo Peafowl, Congo Grey Parrot, Guinea Turaco, Tambourine Dove, and, strangely, Violaceous Euphonia.
-The zoo now have two Congo Peafowl after several years of having only one individual.
-The pair of Blue-Headed Wood-Doves are on-exhibit in the bee-eater aviary.
-The Lesser Bornean Crested Fireback is on-exhibit in one of the Lesser BOP aviaries.
-The zebra mouse enclosure in the Mouse House is currently empty and gutted.
-The mole-rat enclosure is undergoing intensive renovation to turn it into a multi-level complex of tubes we are used to seeing for mole-rat enclosures.
-The is an unspecified mouse on-exhibit in the flex habitat between the sengi and chinchilla (the one centered with the hallway in the diurnal area). I think it's a Peromyscus sp. but not sure which.
-The zoo's last antelope-squirrel is gone.
-The bts nursery room in World of Reptiles has been changed up slightly. The Trimeresurus insularis are no longer on-display here and have been replaced by what appear to be Weber's Sailfin Lizard hatchlings. The turtle shelves are housing McCord's Box Turtle, Yellow-Headed box Turtle, and Chinese Big-Headed Turtle. I believe the zoo shipped most of their Golden Coin Turtles out to Columbus, though I'm unsure why as they were successful with breeding them.
-Despite being on-show at the zoo for less than a year, it seems they no longer have Bothriechis bilineatus.
-The Komodo Dragon hatchlings are on-exhibit in their own habitat in WoR.
-A Mojave Desert Sidewinder has gone on-exhibit with the Southwest Speckled Rattlesnakes.
-It seems the remaining Sunda Gharial may be permanently or long-term off-exhibit as she has been replaced in that enclosure by the zoo's Cuban Crocodile, signage and all. The two smaller crocodilian habitats were drained and empty.
-The zoo has a new pair of Coscoroba Swan on-exhibit in the SeaBird Aviary. We will see how long they remain there, as I've seldom seen a waterfowl species go on-show in that habitat for more than one or two visits (ie. steamer duck, sheldgoose). They make for a welcome addition to the aviary following the trio of Grey Gulls which arrived last year.
-In the Pheasantry, I found no sign of the Australian Magpie or Plum-Headed Parakeets, both of which are usually out during the winter months.
-The zoo now has a female Cabot's Tragopan to join their male on-exhibit.
-It seems the zoo is down to one individual Madagascar Crested Ibis, which is on-exhibit in the large African free-flight room of WoB.
-The capercaillie male was displaying to the female on-exhibit, and the net was pulled down over their habitat to allow them some privacy.
-The fake model cock-of-the-rocks were put up in the aviary again, presumably meaning the zoo is going for another breeding attempt this year.
-The World of Birds nursery is under renovation it seems.
-Green Mantella have been added to the mantella/leaf-tailed gecko habitat in WoR.

~Thylo

 

The zoo's female Sunda Gharial died in late 2020 and the male was sent out shortly after

 

Thought it was the opposite way around for some reason, but didn't know an animal was shipped off. Where did he go?

And surely it was 2021 when the zoo went out of them as they were still on-exhibit as of last year.

~Thylo

 

They left a large exhibit empty for a full year?

 

I PM'd you!

 

On February 7th, it was officially announced that the zoo had recently acquired a (1.1) of Coscoroba Swans in the Sea Bird Aviary.

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On February 18th, the zoo announced that a (0.0.1) African spoonbill was born in early December 2021.

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Hello! I wasn’t sure where to post this, so I looked for the nearest discussion section, and I hope that’s ok! I can move this over to a desired location.

Heading to the zoo today, first time since 2005! My priority today is to photograph and document every bird species on exhibit. Is there anything anyone would like updates on? Any specific place you’d like me to check to see what’s going on? I’m very happy to do some detective work!

 

Usually the zoo news threads are where posts like these would go, since that's where any updates you have should go. Link to that thread here: Bronx Zoo News 2022 [Bronx Zoo]

I'd definitely be interested to hear what bird species the zoo has on-display currently, as there have been quite a few changes to that collection within the last year or so. I would also like to know what's in the crocodile enclosures in World of Reptiles nowadays and is the Barbary Striped Grass Mice (zebra mice) are back on-exhibit.

Thanks and enjoy your visit!

~Thylo

 

Pack provisions for the weekend

 

Thanks @ThylacineAlive ! Over on the Toronto Zoo forums we try to keep things separate so the news feed doesn’t get clogged but I guess I do have some updates so I’ll post it over there! Cheers!

@Zooplantman I was one of maybe 20 people in the park all day! Crummy weather, but a great, quiet experience!

 

Yeah I think zoos that typically have more discussion of varying types going on at once will have multiple threads of different topics (Chester and Toronto are the main ones I know about) but Bronx doesn't have quite so much daily traffic.

I'm glad you enjoyed your visit. I imagine quite a lot was different from what you remember! The quiet semi-crappy weather days as some of my favorite days to visit the zoo

~Thylo

 

@ThylacineAlive The crocodile exhibit in the reptile house currently has Cuban crocodiles.

And yes! The zebra mice are on exhibit! I got some photos of them that I’ll try and upload when I return home. The Damaraland mole rats unfortunately seem to be gone.

As for the birds, I’ll do my best, and others will probably be able to help with photos once I post them. And I didn’t make it to the pheasant row, but here goes! There are definitely some omissions, but I hope this helps!

Birds of Prey: (full on exhibit list)
- Bald Eagle
- Great-Horned Owl
- Snowy Owl
- Golden Eagle
- Andean Condor
- Burrowing Owl
- Cinereous Vulture

Himalayas: (full on exhibit list)
- White-Naped Crane
- Red-Crowned Crane
- Temminck’s Tragopan

Jungle World: (partial on exhibit list)
- Painted Stork
- Imperial Pied Pigeon
- Rajah Shelduck
- Northern Bald Ibis (outside)

Aquatic Bird House: (partial on exhibit list)
- Scarlet Ibis
- Snowy Egret
- Anhinga
- Boat-Billed Heron
- African Pygmy Goose
- Black Oystercatcher
- Masked Lapwing
- Yellow-Billed Pintail
- Little Penguin
- Forster’s Tern
- Smew
- Roseate Spoonbill
- African Spoonbill
- North Island Brown Kiwi
- Tawny Frogmouth
- Tufted Puffin
- Giant Wood Rail
- Yellow-Hooded Blackbird
- Sulawesi Hornbill
- Magellanic Penguin (outside)
- Inca Tern (outside)
- Grey Gull (outside)
- Coscoroba Swan (outside)

Madagascar: (partial on exhibit list)
- Red Lory
- Lesser Vasa Parrot

Giraffe House: (full on exhibit species list)
- Von der Decken’s Hornbill

World of Birds: (partial on exhibit list)
- Emu
- White-Throated Bee-Eater
- White-Fronted Bee-Eater
- Maleo
- Crested-Wood Partridge
- Keel-Billed Toucan
- Taveta Golden Weaver
- Grey-Winged Trumpeter
- Guira Cuckoo
- Cuban Amazon
- Congo Peafowl
- Red Bird of Paradise
- Lesser Bird of Paradise
- Elegant Crested Tinamou
- Spur-Winged Lapwing
- Buff-Crested Bustard
- Golden Breasted Starling
- Speckled Mousebird
- Southern Bald Ibis
- Lady Ross’s Turaco
- Great Blue Turaco
- Guinea Turaco
- Green Woodhoopoe
- Andean Cock of the Rock
- Western Capercaillie
- Blue-Billed Curassow
- Emerald Starling
- Madagascar Ibis
- Bearded Barbet (my new favorite bird!)
- Blue-Headed Wood Dove
- Violet-Backed Starling
- Speckled Pigeon
- Pink Pigeon
- Ocellated Turkey
- Knobbed Hornbill
- Great Hornbill

I’m sorry if it’s a little disorganized, and I’m sorry about the omissions, I’m literally dumping this all from my brain while it’s fresh! Hope the update is helpful!

 

Thank you for the update! The reptile house should have three neighboring crocodile pools, was Cuban Crocodile the only thing visible?

The mole-rats I'd find surprising, as when I was there in January they were in the process of adding a new multi-level tunnel system for them.

~Thylo

 

@ThylacineAlive both of the other pools were drained and empty. The only signage in the area was a temporary one for the Cuban croc.

Maybe they are still working on the exhibit for the mole rats? I was looking forward to seeing them!

 

Are all 3 designed with crocs in mind?

 

All three have held crocodiles/alligators for as long as I can remember apart from a single visit last year where their sole Red-Crowned Roofed Turtle was in one.

I understand that their Sunday Gharial pair are gone now, but one of the smaller pools has held Chinese Alligator for some time now and I'm not sure why they'd remove them for so long unless there's an issue with the enclosure (but then why would the two end pools have a problem but not the middle pool?). Either way, I am hoping in time the Chinese Alligators go back on-exhibit here and they move the dwarf crocodile into the third pool.

~Thylo

 

Male went to Miami and passed away not long ago.

 

That's a shame as he was a massive animal. Did their of the zoo's former animals reproduce successfully ever (either at Bronx or elsewhere)?

~Thylo

 

I am not sure.