Barely at all, it's along the line of the previous hotwire barrier (midway into the left-hand side of the enclosure, before the trees the coatis used to frequent).
It should be noted it has been camoflaged to some extent with branches, I doubt the casual visitor notices much. I only noticed as first time been that way around the zoo and also only visited a handful of times over the last 2 years. (Used to go at least twice I month)
Some notes from a very rainy visit. Silver-eared mesia are now also in one the Rainbow Aviaries, presumably (although I couldn't confirm) the offspring from the pair in the Islands Aviary. The Inca jay (Cyanocorax yncas) have not gone back on-show in the restored aviaries at the rear of the Tropical Realm, they appear to have left the collection. Also in that area of the zoo, the sand lizard enclosure is being adapted for another species. The Azara's agouti in Sprit of the Jaguar have young, I would estimate to be a month or so old. The savannah side of Spirit of the Jaguar is empty. One reticulated python is back on-show in RotRA, the second corner aviary is still empty pending work on the netting. A number of the owl aviaries are also still empty. Also empty are the old grey kangaroo enclosure (later anteaters then pademelon) and the old cheetah enclosures briefly occupied by the Pallas's cats, as is the large paddock behind the bird nursery and red pandas. There's still no apparent direction for this area of the zoo, but it's sad to see so many empty enclosures. In fact, it's the case in many parts of the zoo, including two of the large paddocks in West Zoo and of course, the enclosures in Islands.
Information for anyone really, but Goura may be interested. A Victoria crowned pigeon chick has hatched and is often visible on the nest which is on top of the wrinkled hornbill aviary.
26 species of bird were imported into the zoo during 2018, including 11 new to the zoo. 13 species are no longer kept, making a gain of 13 species during the year. The new species are elegant crested tinamou, blue-naped mousebird, collared trogon, black-browed barbet, scaly-breasted bulbul, Sunda laughing thrush, spotted laughing thrush, green-backed twinspot, lavendar waxbill, western bluebill, African firefinch. The others have all been kept previously in the zoo Rothschild's peacock pheasant, purple gallinule, fire-tufted barbet, Mitchell's lorikeet, purple-naped lory, black-naped oriole, purple glossy starling, silver-eared mesia, yellow-crowned bishop, orange-cheeked waxbill, common waxbill, red avadavat, golden-breasted avadavat, yellow cardinal, scarlet-rumped tanager. A lot of these were customs seizures. The scaly-breasted bulbul died from the effects of the Monsoon Forest fire. Single specimens were received of bluebill and twinspot, both died. Inca jays have left the collection as SMR thought. no longer in the collection Temminck's tragopan, smew, Fischer's turaco, great grey owl, hawk owl, writhed hornbill, brown-breasted barbet, red and blue lory, Inca jay, red-billed chough, scaly-breasted bulbul, green-backed twinspot, western bluebill. I suspect that this year the zoo has gone out of Chilean flamingo and ural owl.
Any idea where the Chilean flamingo have gone to I know Birdworld have required a few but not to sure where from?
Birdworld's new individuals were from Chester. A number of others went to Amersfoort in the Netherlands
Thanks for this useful and interesting post. I do think its a shame the zoo has 'gone out' of so many bird species, do you know any particular reasons for this? I know its huge collection but to stop keeping that many species seems a bit extreme to me (maybe I'm being too dramatic!?). I'm especially sad about the Inca Jays and Great Grey Owls leaving.
I too am sorry about the Inca Jays but I hope to see them at Jurong next week. Chester was the first place I saw this superb species.
tinamou in the Amazon parrot aviary mousebird and trogon in Tropical House spotted laughing thrush in Rainbow Aviary Rothschild's peacock pheasant in Rainbow Aviary Purple gallinule in Pelican Aviary fire-tufted barbet in Asian aviary purple-naped lory behind Bali aviary, look while you can before the aviary is obscured by vegetation purple glossy starling in Tsavo aviary silver-eared Mesia in Asian aviary, rainbow aviary yellow cardinal in Amazon parrot aviary scarlet-rumped tanager in Tropical House
Many thanks for the info i take it the rest are off show at the moment and could possibly be used for the new aviary in the next phase of the development of the zoo.
@bongorob and I had a long visit on Tuesday 25th (before returning for the AGM). The highlight for me was seeing the tuataras being fed. Zootierliste says that the zoo's first tuatara arrived in 1963, I can remember it in a specially ventilated exhibit in the old Reptile House (next to the sea lion pool: the site is now part of the penguin enclosure). I have seen tuataras on virtually every visit since, in the little house by the end of the canal and now in the enclosure beside door of the Tropical House, but I had never seen them being fed before and I had certainly never seen them moving so fast. I won't name the keeper who entered the enclosure, but regular viewers of The Secret Life would recognise the face. Several of the tuataras recognised what was happening too and left their places inside or outside their burrows. After checking the notes on the clipboard inside the enclosure, the keeper scattered three or four handfuls of black beetles around the enclosure - I think they may have been adult mealworms, related to the beetles which are the natural diet of tuataras. All the tuataras (1,5) were out and hunting for food. Previously I had only seen tuataras either completely stationary or in very low first gear. But the sight of a beetle made them go straight from first to top in an instant - a dash, a snatch, a crunch and then a slow deliberate chew. After a short pause they looked around and moved slowly forward in search of the next beetle. While this was happening the keeper used a hose to water the plants and refill the pool, taking care not to splash the tuataras. Then the keeper paused and watched the animals for a couple of minutes. I don't know that keeper personally, but I could tell a lot from the body language and facial expression. I could see a combination of calm observation, attention to detail and clear satisfaction in the condition of the animals. I was impressed.
I just wanted to publicly acknowledge how much I enjoyed reading this post. Obviously ZooChat is largely about news and such, and that's great, but I absolutely love hearing about peoples' own unique experiences like this - for me its moments like this that make visiting zoos special. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Two-by-two... Two successful fledglings of spotted laughingthrush, Sumatran laughingthrush and blue-crowned laughingthrush, along with two Cabot's tragopan. Two baby red pandas also (but don't go looking for those, there won't be any sign for ages yet). @bongorob wrote "no sign of the tinamous" in the gallery , and there wasn't yesterday either as the area was fenced off for "improvements".
