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Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary Review

Discussion in 'Australia' started by animal_expert01, 13 Apr 2019.

  1. animal_expert01

    animal_expert01 Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    I visited Currumbin Sanctuary today. I decided to give a review of the place, as an up to date one does not currently exist on Zoochat.

    You first walk through a small restaurant into a large courtyard with many trees filled with wild rainbow lorikeets. There is an area of small trees surronded by a low green fence where twice a day wild rainbow lorikeets come down and members of the public can feed them wombaroo (a food specifically designed for nectar eating native birds) for a gold coin donation. There are various shops and restaurants dotted around the area. The area was filled with wild dusky moorhens and eastern Water dragons. There is an avairy called the Alex Griffiths avairy. It contains a pair of satin bowerbirds, scaly Breasted lorikeets, brown Cuckoo doves and a neophema species, I think turquoise. There was also an enclosure with cape barren geese, red Necked wallabies and Tammar wallabies. After paying admission you walkthrough the gates to more viewing of the previously mentioned enclosure. To the left a group of standard koala enclosures, as well as a large area where you could get your photo taken holding a koala, and two the right the first walkthrough avairy, the forest fringe aviary. There is also Blinky Bills Treehouse. Depending on how your time is spent at the zoo and the order you do the zoo in these are usually the very first or the very last enclosures you visit in the zoo. For me these were the very last, so I will give my review how I travelled through the zoo, to avoid confusion.

    So after viewing the first macropod enclosure and the Alex Griffiths aviary I skipped the first few exhibits and walked under the road to the other side of the zoo. I travelled to the first show of the day, the pelican and eel feeding, which is held daily at 9:30am. When I arrived there at around 9:00 there were many water birds and eels already waiting at the small artificial beach. There were many Australian pelicans, Australian shortfin eels, a lone Australasian darter, several pied cormorants, a couple of silver gulls, a single little black Cormorant, a single little Egret and a lone Australian white Ibis. Then to my delighted surprise a white eyed duck appeared on the river, a lifer for me. This would prove to be a common sight throughout the zoo grounds. Rather oddly, the canal had several fake, partially submerged shark models, these were tan in colour and usually only the dorsal fin protruded from the water. Eventually, the keeper arrived and feed the water birds small fish, and the eels were feed chicken necks with tongs. Before feeding the eels, one of the keepers repeatedly stomped on the sand, and then held the tongs holding the chicken necks out of the water. The eels squirmed out of the water to eat chicken necks, and many of them attempted to lift themselves up with there dorsal fins.

    Leaving the canal after the show was over I continued through the zoo through an adventure playground and past a cafe. The next enclosure was one of the Tasmanian devil enclosures. The enclosure was reasnobly large, and had many hiding opportunities for the devil (I assume there was only one in this enclosure, as I only ever saw one). The devil was curled up in a hollowed out log, asleep. Continuing down the path was another cafe, that overlooked more macropod enclosures. Walking through a set of double gates opened into an area populated by eastern grey kangaroos and a pair of emus. Through a fence was the red kangaroo enclosure, that was also walkthrough. Both enclosures had artificial waterways running through them. The eastern grey kangaroo enclosure was very lush, while the red kangaroo enclosure was barren of any vegetation. Many wild pacific black ducks, Australian wood ducks and magpie geese made use of the waterways, while Australian white Ibis and hundreds of feral pigeons fed off the spilled kangaroo food, which could be purchased from a vending machine inside the enclosure. A nearby walkthrough enclosure was well vegetated and contained large, natrualistic looking artificial rocks, upon which were many wild eastern Water dragons that were basking. The enclosure contained several swamp wallabies and an emu. Walking up a path lead to another enclosure containg a single emu.

    This path split, eithier leading to the crocodile enclosures or leading to a relatively new part of the zoo, the Lost Valley. Walking past an artificial rock logo led to an incredible green Iguana exhibit. The exhibit was extremely well vegetated and contained many climbing opportunities. As far as I could tell, the enclosure only held one large individual, but was so well vegetated more could have been hiding. This was one of the largest lizard enclosures I had ever seen, rivaled only by the Komodo dragon exhibit at Australia Zoo. Opposite this enclosure was an enclosure for three good fellows Tree Kangaroos. The enclosure had many climbing opportunities. There was better viewing for the same enclosure, on the other side. Continuing on were two seperate enclosures for southern cassowaries. The enclosures were decent and well shaded, and both contained pools. This whole area had random dinosaurs models posistioned throughout the rainforest. Next was a small enclosure for a single lumholtz tree kangaroo, which I saw feeding and then attempting to scale the fence. Next was the red panda enclosure. The enclosure was good, with many artificial climbing opportunities as well as a large tree in the middle of the enclosure, which the red panda was at the top of fast asleep. Opposite this enclosure was another enclosure void of inhabitants. The exhibits appeared to be connected under the boardwalk, so I believe they were both part of the red panda exhibit, and the animal could move between the enclosures as it wished. Next was a great enclosure for capybara, which was large, shaded and had a big pool. The pool however, was full of feces. As fair as I could tell, the enclosure contained three individuals. Further along the boardwalk was a small reptile house that contained two reasonable enclosures for a massive boa constrictor and a veild chameleon. In this small reptile house were glass viewing windows into the capybara exhibit. Next were two mesh enclosures for cotton topped tamarins, which contained three individuals. Only one enclosure had inhabitants, so I believe they may be rotated between the two, or the animals may have access to both exhibits. Next was the spectacular rainforest avairy, on par with the great flight aviary at Melbourne Zoo. It was beautiful, and had a huge multi level waterfall that led into a large pool. Mist poured out from the water fall, adding to the rainforest feel. The avairy was very wide. Then, to my surprise, I discovered the avairy was home to several ring tailed lemurs! They were walking up and down the hand railings of the boardwalk and were sunbathing on the wooden and concrete paths of the avairy. There was a keeper there monitoring them, making sure they weren’t harassed by guests. The aviary contained many bird species. I saw Moluccan red lories, mandarin ducks, bush stone curlews, glossy Ibis, buff Banded rails, wonga pigeons, lady Amherst’s pheasants (obviously contained some golden pheasant genes), pied Imperial pigeons, emerald doves, brown Cuckoo doves and Luzon bleeding heart pigeons. Outside this spectacular aviaries were two much smaller aviaries that were connected to the main avairy. These contained a pair of blue and golden macaws. These aviaries couldn’t be approached as the path was blcocked off. I believe these may have been quarantine aviaries, or potentially the zoo was experiencing aggression issues between the macaws and the other residents. Another path circled back round, providing better viewing for the Goodfellows Tree Kangaroos.

    This path then lead to the two crocodile enclosures. One contained a pair of saltwater crocodiles, and was of reasonable size. The other contained several freshwater crocodiles as well as Brisbane river turtles. One of the turtles was a very large male, whose shell was at least 30cm in diameter. There were also several small fish in the pond. The water from these enclosures drained out and feed the small waterway that ran through the eastern grey kangaroo exhibit. Continuing back through the kangaroo enclosure and past the restaurant led to a very steep path that I had skipped when first walking to this area of the zoo. The path led to two aviaries. The first was a very dated aviary containing three tawny frogmouths. The next was a medium sized avairy for a single glossy Cockatoo and a single bush stone Curlew. I then went back down the path and circled back round past the Tasmanian devil enclosure. At this stage the devil was now very active, and even attempted to catch an Ibis that landed in the exhibit. This individual devil was missing fur on its tail. Continuing past the exhibit and past the restaurant led to the main path to the other side of the zoo. The first enclosure was a small but nice aviary that contained a small group of grey headed flying foxes. At times the path meandered close to the water, were more wild water birds and more of the strange shark models could be seen. The path continued on straight in one direction and diverged up a steel hill to the right in the other. I decided to walk up the hill. Up the hill were more enclosures for koalas, as well as wombats and a bird aviary called the Land of Parrots. There were many koalas in several fairly standard exhibits. The Wombat enclosure was decent, and contained many hollow logs and rocks. There was also a den were the wombats could retreat to if they wanted to, and there was a small building where these dens could be viewed. Try as I might, I couldn’t find a single Wombat. The Land of Parrots aviary was a medium sized walk through avairy. It had crested pigeons, gang gang cockatoos, cockatiels, king parrots and bar shouldered doves.

    I came back down the path to continue my way through the zoo. Then I came to by far the most tackiest and worst part of the zoo, the Gruffalo Trail. It was a trail that meandered through this part of the zoo, and often intertwined with the other paths. The Gurffalo is a fictional children’s story book, containing many woodland characters. This would prove rather annoying, as along the paths there were sign for things such as the fox den and the snake house. Thinking these were a fox enclosure and a reptile house, I followed the signs only to find that these were infact the artificial houses of the characters in the storybook, very disappointing and anti climatic.

    Eventually the path led to a group of aviaries called the conservation aviaries (and a very tacky wooden statue of a gruffalo thankfully marking the end to gurffalo trail). The aviaries were small, very well planted and contained some very exciting inhabitants. The aviary inhabitants were woompoo fruit doves, Black throated finches, chestnut Breasted mannikins, orange Bellied parrots, Black Breasted button quail, double eyed fig parrot, hooded robin, regent honeyeaters, noisy pitta, a lone squatter Pigeon, Star finches and regent bowerbirds ( these were signed, but I didn’t see them so I can’t confirm there there). Further along was another enclosure for Tasmanian devils, as well as the endangered frog breeding centre, which was unfortunately closed. There was also a small dingo enclosure behind the cafe. Another path led up to the wildlife hospital. On the way was some more avairies, containing blue faced parrot finches, eastern whipbird, noisy pitta, woompoo fruit doves, a rose crowned fruit dove, little lorikeets, a brown Cuckoo Dove and surberb fairy wren. Further along the path was a building where the koala feed was held, and some avairies that could only be viewed from a distance. These contained a western subspecies Australian magpie and three black kites, which I would later find out that these birds are some of the birds used in the bird show. There was also an enclosure for two jabiru and an enclosure that had several baby alligators. The alligator pens were small, and rather unnecessarily, sourounded by three fences. Rather interestingly, there was also a sign on one of the fences not to disturb to soil underneath the sign as a water dragon had laid her eggs there. The wildlife hospital was interesting and many operating rooms, as well as a display showing the damage of fishing gear on marine life. There was also an area with koalas that were undergoing treatment as well as several small echidna enclosures, each only containing a single individual. Only two of these enclosures could be properly viewed, however the echidnas in both enclosures were very active.

    Next I went to the amphitheater and watched the birdshow. The show was great and included a wide array of bird species, including green winged Macaw, the black kites, the magpie, a barking owl, a chicken, a wedge tailed eagle, an Australian pelican, a crested Tern, a couple of red tailed black cockatoos, a major Mitchell’s cockatoo, a long Billed Corella and a bush stone Curlew. The bird show happens daily at 2:30 and 11:20.

    After this, I explored the ponds close to the amphitheater, which provided for many wild bird species including pacific black ducks, white eyed ducks, plumed whistling ducks, wandering whitsling ducks and Australian white ibis. Nearby was also the dingo enclosure, which was a good size and had a large cave and pool. I saw two individuals. After this I began to walk over to the other side of the zoo. I passed through the tunnel under the road and walked through the forest fringe avairy, a fantastic little avairy that really immereses you. A small creek ran through the avairy further adding to the atmosphere. The aviary contained pied stilts, woompoo pigeons, scaly Breasted lorikeets and rainbow lorikeets.

    Next was Blinky Bills Tree House, which has changed a lot since I last visited many years ago. On the ground floor was an enclosure for a freshwater crocodile and a massive long Necked turtle. Not sure exactly on the species but considering the location of the zoo probably the eastern species. Another pool had two short Necked turtles, and another had a single merterns water monitor. There was also another pool, but I couldn’t see if it had any inhabitants due to the strong reflection on the glass. There was also a very good enclosure for a massive scrub Python and a Boyd’s forest dragon. There was also a large cylindrical enclosure for frilled Necked lizards. Heading up a steep staircase through the tree lead to various rooms, many with windows and various Blinky Bill theming. Eventually I came to the highest level I could, as the highest levels were closed. I slid through a slide to a lower part of the tree house. This part of the tree house could normally be reached from a ramp and staircase from on of the higher levels, but due to them being closed I was forced to take the slide. However I eventually found when leaving the zoo there was a ramp at the back of the exhibit I could have used. Anyway, up where was a pretty bad statue of a feral cat, and a mini nocturnal house. The mini nocturnal house consisted of a single large tank with one Bilby and several ghost bats. This exhibit was brilliant, the largest I had seen for a Bilby. I had never seen ghost bats before, and there were very interesting with there horrific faces and big, opaque ears. Continuing through the tree house I found a small but well furnished tank for three green and golden bell frogs. Opposite this tank was a hole in the wall were another enclosure one was, however, there was nothing there. I left Blinky Bills Tree House and the park to feed the wild rainbow lorikeets. It was very enjoyable and there were at least a hundred rainbow lorikeets feeding. At one stage I had four perched on me at once.

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    Overall, I very much enjoyed Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. There bird avairies are incredible and all animals are well looked after. They have a wide range of exotic and native species, and engage and many conservation programs. The only thing I didn’t like was the Gurffalo Trail, which was awful and really didn’t fit in with the rest of the park. The zoo is a great place to see captive species and wild species a like, and holds many rarities including orange Bellied parrots and woompoo pigeons. It is a great place and I strongly recommend a visit. I will upload the pictures I took to the gallery when I get a chance.
     
    Last edited: 13 Apr 2019
  2. WhistlingKite24

    WhistlingKite24 Well-Known Member 10+ year member Premium Member

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    Great review, I thought it would be interesting to compare a few things that I noticed/saw during my trip to Currumbin in July 2018.
    Was this aviary near the cafe area? I recall seeing an aviary near that area and it was unfortunately uninhabited.
    The rocks are for their Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby. I also saw Red-legged Pademelon and Red-necked Wallaby in this enclosure.
    I was a big fan of the iguana exhibit, I had never seen an open-topped iguana exhibit. 'Lost Valley' on a whole is done to a very high standard.
    Indeed, a gorgeous aviary. I love how you really have to search for the birds (and lemurs).
    Some new species for the aviary, very interesting (glossy ibis, brown cuckoo dove, banded rail). I also saw New Guinea Ground Dove, Golden Pheasant, Black-capped Lory and Sun Conure.
    I had no luck finding the wombat either.
    On my visit the Land of the Parrots Aviary also had Major Mitchell's Cockatoo, Little Corella, Superb Parrot, Princess Parrot and Regent Parrot. I was also hoping to see Mulga Parrot there however I couldn't find any.
    I loved the Conservation Aviaries, a bird-lover's dream. No Chiming Wedgebill?! A gorgeous bird and my absolute favourite species for this section of aviaries.
    Chiming Wedgebill (Psophodes occidentalis) - ZooChat
    In this area I also saw Sacred Kingfisher, Regent Bowerbird, Star Finch, Gouldian Finch, Superb Fairy Wren, White-browed Wood swallow, Bush Budgerigar and Diamond Dove.
    Sounds excellent! I must go and see the new bird show.
    Another outstanding aviary. On my visit this also contained Brown Cuckoo Dove and White-browed Woodswallow.
    Did you miss the actual nocturnal house on ground level? On my visit it contained Rakali (water rat), Spinifex Hopping Mouse, Feather-tail Glider (another highlight), Cane Toad, Centralian Knob-tailed Gecko and a mixed enclosure with Yellow-bellied Glider, Squirrel Glider and Long-nosed Potoroo. Past these enclosures, were some tanks for their venomous snake collection (Collett's Snake, Death Adder), a few python tanks and a small tank for a Green Tree Snake.
     
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  3. animal_expert01

    animal_expert01 Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    QLD Australia
    Yes it was, the aviary was great and it had a small waterfall.

    By the looks of your photos, the Iguana was kept in a different exhibit on your visit. Where the Iguana was kept on your visit is now part of the red panda exhibit.

    I can remember now seeing sun conures and new guiena ground doves. I however did not see any golden pheasants or any black capped lories. These could have easily been hiding though, considering how large and well vegetated the avairy is.

    None of these were present as far as I could see. The bird show did have a Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo, so perhaps that was the same individual you saw.

    None of these were present as far as I could see, however regent bowerbirds were signed so they may have been there. The are avairy in the row was covered over with shade cloth. Glancing through a gal revealed it was completely empty. Where the birds you saw held in this, now empty avairy?

    I forgot to mention brown Cuckoo doves. There was also at least a couple of sacred kingfishers in this aviary, so perhaps these were the same ones you saw in the conservation aviary.

    I must have. I’ll have to look out for it one my next visit. Blinky Bills Tree House as a whole was very cluttered, and it was very easy to miss exhibits.
     
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  4. WhistlingKite24

    WhistlingKite24 Well-Known Member 10+ year member Premium Member

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    The iguana was kept in an enclosure across from the red panda (it definitely looks like a different enclosure).
    A lot of the birds in the conservation aviaries I saw on the day were not signed. The regent bowerbirds were in the first aviary with the woompoo pigeon and noisy pitta.
     
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