That's it - booked a night up there in half term, and I am going on my own to I can spend as long as I like waiting at enclosures for happenings without someone else whinging. I seem to have established a tradition for going to Chester every February and October half term.
new bird species on show, Socorro dove (Zenaida graysoni) in Tropical House and Mountain peacock pheasant (Polyplectron inopinatum) in Rainbow aviaries.
the last time I saw a Socorro Dove at the collection was May 31st 2013 this was upstairs in the third aviary along the upstairs of the tropical realm may have been around longer but didn't see it after this date.
A couple of bird notes from today; the silver-eared mesia in the aviary in Islands have fledged two chicks, one female and one male (pending confirmation), and there is a Luzon bleeding-heart dove chick about to fledge in Dragons in Danger. Perhaps most significant, the zoo is going out of owls, completely. The collection currently adjacent to the former Roman Garden is being dispersed, with birds sold to other collections and given to other zoos. The aviaries will be used for another group of birds. This will mean that the zoo has no commonly recognised birds of prey.
To me personally , this isn't a major issue, though disappointing! But I imagine this will cause considerable distress to some who demand diversity!
Do we know if this is part of a larger plan to go out of birds of prey entirely or are they just clearing that part of the zoo for future developments?
The loss of the owls will be sad, but just to clarify does this include the Tropical Realm owls? Also there is still birds of prey, do not forget the vultures.
There aren't any owls in the Tropical Realm. And yes, arguably some would classify vultures as birds of prey, but call me old-fashioned, I've always thought of them as scavengers.
Hope you don't mind me saying, but I was looking on your website, that Jaguar picture is absolutely beautiful. Was that taken in the wild or at a collection, it really is an impressive image.
A pity, but I guess this is another one of those points where the zoo either has to upgrade the facilities being offered to animals or go out of the species (see also Tropical Realm reptile collection and sea lions). The existing owl aviaries aren’t really big enough, even though several of them have been combined to make larger enclosures - so that gives them a decision to make.
Are you sure about this? I thought a lot of modern zoos (esp. ones run as a charities) try to avoid any kind of monetary trading regarding animals. Note, I'm not personally hung up on this it just seems an un-Chester thing to do.
You'd be apoplectic with rage if a zoo (say Marwell or London) reduced their holding or diversity of mammals.
I would hate to see all the owls leaving Chester, so I hope that space can found for some appropriate species of owl in Islands or another zoogeographic area. But it is too early to complain about a reduction in the diversity of the collection as we don't know which species will arrive to occupy those aviaries.
After a couple of decades of steady upgrades it seems that Chester Zoo is now going into a full Dr Who regeneration. It might be a few years before I visit again and I’m not sure I’ll recognise the place when I eventually return.
