Livingston Ripley Waterfowl Conservancy Livingston Ripley Waterfowl Conservancy

So a bit of an odd situation here. Back when I visited this collection for the first time back in 2017, I created an enclosure by enclosure species list to post here on the forum. When visiting the park for the first time since then today, I realized when going to update the list that I never actually posted the thread.. I wasn't really sure how to handle that situation but @TeaLovingDave suggested I post the 2017 list anyway as a historical record and update it moving forward.

So, for anyone interested, here is the Spring 2017 LRWC collection:

Main Mixed Aviary
Lady Amherst’s Pheasant Chrysolophus amherstiae
Golden Pheasant Chrysolophus pictus
Himalayan Monal Lophophorus impejanus
Elliot’s Pheasant Syrmaticus ellioti
Mandarin Duck Aix galericulata
Green-Winged Teal Anas crecca carolinensis
Lesser White-Fronted Goose Anser erythropus
Cape Barren Goose Cereopsis novaehollandiae
Falcated Teal Mareca falcata
Eurasian Wigeon Mareca penelope
Marbled Teal Marmaronetta angustirostris

Sea Duck Aviary 1
Ross’s Goose Anser rossii
Long-Tailed Duck Clangula hyemalis
Harlequin Duck Histrionicus histrionicus
Spectacled Eider Somateria fischeri

Barn
Harris’s Hawk Parabuteo unicinctus
Saker Falcon Falco cherrug
Eurasian Eagle-Owl Bubo bubo
Japanese Quail Coturnix japonica
Common Emerald Dove Chalcophaps indica
Crested Pigeon Ocyphaps lophotes

Islands Mixed Aviary
Swinhoe’s Pheasant Lophura swinhoii
Masked Lapwing Vanellus miles
Magpie Goose Anseranas semipalmata
Laysan Teal Anas laysanensis
Philippine Duck Anas luzonica
Meller’s Duck Anas melleri
Hawaiian Duck Anas wyvilliana
New Zealand Scaup Aythya novaeseelandiae
Hawaiian Goose Branta sandvicensis
West Indian Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna arborea
Puna Teal Spatula puna
Freckled Duck Stictonetta naevosa

North American Aviary
Temminck’s Tragopan Tragopan temminckii
North American Wood Duck Aix sponsa
Bufflehead Bucephala albeola
North American Ruddy Duck Oxyura jamaicensis
Northern Shoveler Spatula clypeata

Geese and Crane Pasture (walkthrough)
Demoiselle Crane Grus virgo
Crested Screamer Chauna torquata
Gambel’s Goose Anser albifrons gambeli
Emperor Goose Anser canagicus
Wild Swan Goose Anser cygnoides
Cape Barren Goose Cereopsis novaehollandiae
Black Swan Cygnus atratus
Whistling Swan Cygnus columbianus

Side Aviary 1
Cape Barren Goose Cereopsis novaehollandiae

Side Aviary 1
East African Crowned Crane Balearica regulorum gibbericeps
Whooper Swan Cygnus cygnus

Side Aviary 3
Trumpeter Swan Cygnus buccinator

Second Pasture (walkthrough)
East African Crowned Crane Balearica regulorum gibbericeps
Bar-Headed Goose Anser indicus
Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis
Greater Snow Goose Anser caerulescens atlanticus

Sea Duck Aviary 2 (walkthrough, two enclosures)
Black-Bellied Plover Pluvialis squatarola
Pied Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta
Eurasian Teal Anas crecca crecca
Barrow’s Goldeneye Bucephala islandica
Long-Tailed Duck Clangula hyemalis
American White-Winged Scoter Melanitta deglandi
Smew Mergellus albellus
Common Merganser Mergus merganser
Hooded Merganser Lophodytes cucullatus
White-Headed Duck Oxyura leucocephala
King Eider Somateria spectabilis

Side Aviary 4
American Eider Somateria mollissima dresseri
Common Merganser Mergus merganser

Misc. Aviaries
Himalayan Monal Lophophorus impejanus
Silver Teal Spatula versicolor
Hartlaub’s Duck Pteronetta hartlaubii
Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus

Off-Show Aviaries (some visible from normal viewing)
Vieillot’s Crested Fireback Lophura rufa
Red-Breasted Goose Branta ruficollis
Baikal Teal Sibirionetta formosa
Australian Wood Duck Chenonetta jubata
Magellan Goose Chloephaga picta
Blue-Winged Goose Cyanochen cyanoptera
White-Faced Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna viduata
Bronze-Winged Duck Speculanas specularis

The collection also has a public nursery building where the public can view the various chicks being raised in indoor pens when first born, and then in a run of outdoor pens while fledging.

The collection boasts first captive breeding records for Laysan Teal, New Zealand Scaup, Greenland Mallard, Red-Breasted Goose, Philippine Duck, and Hawaiian Goose. The certificates for these records are displayed in the nursery (photos in gallery).

~Thylo

 

Sounds like an interesting place, not to dissimilar to Sylvan heights except for having a smaller collection.

 

NOTE: I forgot to list one species kept in one of the misc. aviaries: Sharp-Winged Teal, Anas flavirostris oxyptera. Additionally, please note that my list of off-show species probably didn't include all of the species kept off-show, just the ones I knew were/were visible from the public viewing. At the time of my first visit, I believe they still kept Flying Steamer Ducks bts but I remember being told they were going out of them so I didn't list that species.

I just checked the photos of the certificates and yes, they're first breedings in the US rather than worldwide first breedings.

Pretty much, thought I believe they'll start becoming more like Sylvan as time goes on. I was speaking with a keeper yesterday and he was telling me about how they have seen a 50% increase in visitation over the past two years and plan on expanding and adding more non-waterfowl bird species as a result.

I'll be creating an updating species list for the collection momentarily.

~Thylo

 

The center's website suggests that Ripley does hold the first captive breeding record for Red-Breasted Goose, Hawaiian Goose, Emperor Goose, and Laysan Teal, while the other species will be US first breedings.

~Thylo

 

The Institution​

So I want to start off by giving a bit more background information on the conservatory. Located in Litchfield, Connecticut, the 150-acre center sits on roughly 400-acres owned by the Ripley family. Of these 150-acres, about 16 are developed for public viewing. The collection was founded by Sidney Dillon Ripley II (1913-2001), who started building the collection as a teenager in the 1920's. If anyone recognizes the name S. Dillon Ripley, it's because he led an amazingly influential life having been a professor of Ornithology at Yale University, the Director of Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History, the head zoologist and ornithologist on the Denison-Crockett South Pacific Expedition (1937-1938) and George Vanderbilt Sumatra Expedition (1939) respectively, served in various intelligence services during WWII, served on the board of directors of the WWF, was the third president of BirdLife International, and was the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution where he founded the Anacostia Community Museum, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Renwick Gallery, S. Dillon Ripley Center, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Enid A. Haupt Garden, National Museum of African Art, and the National Air and Space Museum as well as the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and Smithsonian magazine. In 1985, he and his wife, Mary Livingston Ripley, donated the chunk of their land to a non-profit organization that would continue to set-up and operate the center as it is today. Ripley's three daughters continue to help operate and expand the center as members of the board of directors. Today the center cares for over 60 species of birds and 400 individual animals. The center has very successful breeding programs for both rare and highly endangered waterfowl such as Baer's Pochard, Chinese Merganser, Meller's Duck, Laysan Teal, Spectacled Eider, White-Headed Duck, and New Zealand Scaup. The center is open from May 3rd-December 1st from 10am-4pm on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Private tours can be booked for all other times during the year.

August 2018​

So there's a bit of a challenge here when it comes to updating the species list I posted from 2017. At the moment, the center is experiencing a drought which is causing an increasingly severe water shortage. The majority of the center's exhibit ponds are fed either by underground wells or by a nearby natural stream. As of my visit yesterday the stream is completely dried up and the wells are running low. As a result, many of the waterfowl species-- particularly the more sensitive ones such as the seaducks-- have been moved off-exhibit until their aviaries are properly watered again. There has also been a massive shift of birds to different aviaries in general since my first visit. This all combines to making it very difficult to know which waterfowl species have left the collection. That said, I can confirm with 90-100% certainty that the following species have in fact left:
-Elliot's Pheasant
-Swinhoe's Pheasant
-Vieillot's Crested Fireback
-Peregrine Falcon
-Saker Falcon
-Common Emerald Dove
-Bronze-Winged Duck
-Freckled Duck

Since my first visit, the center has had some improvements, too. The main mixed aviary and island aviary has both been converted into walkthroughs, with smaller singular enclosures having been added for non-waterfowl birds. Common Merganser, Chinese Merganser, Baer's Pochard, Meller's Duck, Puna Teal, New Zealand Scaup, and American Ruddy Ducks are among the species hatched and raised this year. New species I noted on-exhibit since my last visit are:
-American Barn Owl
-Spur-Winged Lapwing
-Malagasy Turtle-Dove
-White-Crested Laughingthrush
-Northern Pintail
-Bernier's Teal
-Red-Billed Teal
-Redhead
-Ferruginous Duck
-Ring-Necked Duck
-Common Goldeneye
-Ringed Teal
-Red Shoveler

The Future​

During my visit I was able to speak with a member of the staff (all the staff I've encountered here are extremely nice and willing to answer any and all questions/comments) who told me a little big about the future of the center. He told me that they've seen a 50% increase in attendance over the past two years and as a result they are looking to further expand the collection. The current director wants to shift the focus towards all birds as opposed to only waterfowl and eventually the name of the center will change to simply the Ripley Conservancy (or something of that nature). Currently they have a new pair of Red-Crowned Crane behind the scenes that they're constructing a brand new enclosure for. Next year they plan to construct a pheasantry as the director has a particular interest in pheasants. Other non-Galloanserae species are planned for this development as well.

~Thylo

 

Thank you for this very informative introduction and list, it sounds like a wonderful facility!

 

I can confirm that the Bronze-winged Duck and Swinhoe's Pheasant are both still there. Saw and photographed both yesterday.

 

Excellent, I've never seen the former on-exhibit before. I know they went some to other zoos, too, so I had assumed they went out of them completely.

~Thylo

 

According to the conservancy's social media, three Spectacled Eider, at least seven Smew, two Emperor Geese, three Swan Geese, and at least five Chinese Mergansers are among the chicks hatched so far this year.

~Thylo

 

Reeves's Pheasant and Siberian Crane have joined the conservancy's collection.

~Thylo

 

Does anyone have access to a studybook or anything like that for Siberian Crane? I'm curious to know how their captive population is doing.

 

There isn't a studbook, for whatever reason very few zoos have any interest in the species. As far as I know, only ICF, Franklin Park Zoo, Tulsa, and now Ripley keep this species. Tulsa had a pair when I visited in 2019 but they'd long ended their breeding efforts due to difficulty placing offspring. I think they've since lost one of their animals. I know FPZ has a few pairs but I'm not sure if they're still breeding them or not.

~Thylo

 

That's a shame, the species could really use a solid captive breeding program.

 

They seem to be doing alright in European zoos.

~Thylo

 

When I went to Franklin this summer, the Siberian cranes were moved to an unsigned Exhibit behind the Kangaroo area and old butterfly exhibit. Their former Exhibit (old outdoor gorilla) was under construction with no indication of what will be going there. Wouldn't be surprised if something new goes in that Exhibit and they phase out siberian cranes.

 

It would be a shame if they did, as they've really been the only place serious about keeping and breeding them here aside from maybe the ICF.

~Thylo

 

Where did Ripley get their siberian cranes from? Could they be the pair from Franklin? Personally I'd rather see Franklin reuse the old Outdoor gorilla habitat for something else, and make a new Siberian Crane habitat- possibly over near the Kori bustards and camels?

 

FPZ has multiple pairs so it's possible they sent one to Ripley. It'd make the most sense due to their relatively close proximity.

~Thylo

 

ICF was the first facility to successfully breed Siberian Cranes in captivity, and they maintain at least one (possibly more) breeding pairs to this day.