Maleos, Geladas, and Spray Toads, Oh My! Mid-April Trip Thread

Was the bee-eater enclosure open? It's the first enclosure in WOB and is home to two bee-eater species and Egyptian Plover. I'd imagine they'd be of interest (even if they're not passerines).

The African aviary is also home to three turaco species and Abdim's Stork.

There are more than three passerines in the South American aviary, though it is hard to spot them. There are 3-4 species of tanager, a cardinal, Inca Jay, Haitian Bananaquit, and possibly Cuban Grassquit and two seedeater species, though I've yet to see those last three.

There's also Capuchinbird and trogon in the Blue-Headed Macaw enclosure.
Did the finches not go on-show in the first floor?
The first yard outside the building holds Emu, though they hide more under the ramp sometimes.

I'm very happy you got to see the cormorant, he's a beautiful animal and by-far my favorite cormorant species

I'm glad you've enjoyed Bronx overall thus far!

~Thylo

 

Come to Bronx

~Thylo

 

That was a mix, not a full review and not just the parts I liked, I suppose a full review of the parts I liked . Bee-eaters are cool, but I didn't spend much time on them because there were rarer species to be seen . Today is the day I'll be going through World of Birds with extra time at the end, and trying to document/photograph more. Do you know what the tanager species are? Out of all of those, I only saw the cardinal and Cuban grassquit, but I think I saw an unifentified tanager. I saw the capuchinbird but not the trogons. The finches are on show, the species are blue-headed parrotfinch, red-headed parrotfinch, crested wood partridge, double-barred owl finch, long-tailed finch, plum-headed finch, and star finch. Those are the signed species, but I also saw red-billed leiothrix. I am also very happy I saw the cormorant, obviously, though I wish my photos were better, and I'm not allowed to share them.

 

Blue-Grey Tanager, Silver-Beaked Tanager, and I think one other unidentified species. There's also Saffron Finch in the enclosure. Great that you saw the grassquit! I'm hoping to do so along with the seedeaters soon.

~Thylo

 

So, I just found an African golden oriole in Jungleworld!?! Not complaining, though. A photo will come later.

 

Sorry it's been so long since an update New York City is hectic, but I'm home now.
Day Seven: sightseeing
Sadly this day probably won't be as interesting, there are no animals involved.

To start the day off, we headed for Trinity Church, featured in the National Treasure movies (they have Nicolas Cage in them, watch them). It was unfortunately closed, but we were able to locate the grave of Alexander Hamilton, an important figure in American history. After this, we headed out for a ferry tour to Liberty Island and Ellis Island, where we looked at the Statue of Liberty and the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. The Statue was okay, though not as regal as it is often portrayed to be. Several huge flocks of common loons were around. The museum at Ellis Island was the building restored to how it would have been while it was in use, which meant it was rather empty. Honestly, the Staten Island Ferry was enough for seeing these landmarks, and the time would have better been spent at a zoo (but what time wouldn't be better spent at a zoo, really?). Then we moved on the Federal Hall, where George Washington was sworn in as the first president. The final stop was the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, which is hands-down, the best museum I've ever been in. It was then fairly late in the evening, so we headed back to the hotel.

The day after, I visited Central Park and Bronx. I really like JungeWorld, though I hadn't expected to. Today I enjoyed Prospect Park and the New York Aquarium. I'll be writing most of my thoughts and such tomorrow.

 

How highly would you rank Bronx of the zoos you've seen?

 

Very high. I will soon try and rank all the zoos I've been to, but I have to do some checking to see years I visited a few of them.

Sorry, all, for the delay on day 8, it will be out tomorrow.

 

First off, I'm happy to hear that I was able to help you with your trip-planning in some form or another!

Ah, we should have let you know sooner that the rest of the Children's Zoo (the far more interesting section, that is, haha) doesn't open til Memorial Day weekend usually. Apologies!

Oh, but I am so happy for you! Although it can be hard at times to properly convey/pick up on tone through words on a screen, the detail with which you described your World of Birds experience, as well as the overall length of your posts, clearly shows your great enthusiasm and passion when it comes to birds. Don't worry about having to suppress that - I'm sure a community full of zoo nerds wouldn't mind in the slightest . I most definitely appreciate it; I think it would have been cool to have met up with you and tagged along with you for your WoB trips had I been free these past few days!

The way the maleos' little heads quickly jerk and bob forward as they move does make it a bit tricky to get quality pictures at times, haha. On top of that, it almost seems like they can change walking speeds mid-strut, so I wouldn't put all the blame on your photography skills.

And yes, the Montezuma oropendola is such a fascinating bird! One of my favorite species. Did you have the chance to hear any of its vocalizations on your visit? Honestly, they're some of my favorite sounds of the animal kingdom.

Your difficulties in trying to get a good shot of the male birds-of-paradise must make you appreciate the work those cameramen in nature films do to just get several-second snippets of decent footage out in New Guinea. I'm sure they wished their only problems out in the field were a few noisy kids scaring a BoP out of a good position.

Thanks for all of the information about the old guanay!

Now a quick question (for all ZooChatters, really): Is seeing, for example, a guanay cormorant that you know is in the collection, but not currently on exhibit, as easy as just finding the right person and asking to see it? Or did jayjds2 just get lucky in this instance? How does one go about asking that anyway? I'm assuming it's not as simple as going "I'd like to see your guanay cormorant, please," haha, but at the same time I guess I'd always thought going off the beaten path to see specific animals was some type of exclusivity reserved only for a select few with special privileges.

 

Also, apologies if that second paragraph in my post seems strangely emotional. I haven't used the forum regularly in a very long time, and in my everyday life have not met very many people who share my interests, let alone show the same level of passion that I do.

And just the other day, Thylo and I were talking about how hard it is not only to avoid visiting the World of Birds entirely, but also to spend less than an hour in there whenever you do visit! I often claim mammals are my favorite animals, but I find myself reading about, drawing, and looking for birds slightly more often it seems than I do with mammals, so maybe birds are my favorites.

So needless to say, I was very excited to read about the wonderful time you had at the WoB and reading about all of the [what the Average Joe would consider] oddities, such as Montezuma oropendolas, capercailies, etc.

 

That's unfortunate. However, due to a special circumstance, I might actually be able to come back this summer!

Perhaps this summer it'll work out?

I'm apparently quite good at this, having now been behind the scenes at the Dallas World Aquarium, San Antonio Zoo, San Diego Zoo, Bronx, and a few others. For Bronx, yes, I simply got lucky (same with the DWA) and found a high ranking (at Bronx, keeper, at DWA, owner) person who could take me. Both times I was simply asking if x bird was on exhibit. At Bronx, the person asked me why I wanted to see it, and when I explained it was evident I knew what I was talking about. Originally I was told to come back at a later date, but when I found the same person later that day I was able to go then.
At San Diego Zoo, I knew a person who knew a keeper. That keeper contacted another keeper, who contacted yet another keeper, and then I was able to see ornate fruit-dove and white-bearded manakin, both of which I believe are (or were, they were both elderly when I saw them). At San Antonio, I asked through email where some of the birds listed on their website were. This put me in touch with the bird curator there, who offered to take me to see them and then I got a really nice look at all their facilities.
Sometimes, zoos offer tours that take you behind the scenes as well. At Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, Dallas Zoo, and the San Diego Zoo, I was able to do this. But it's not the same, because there's a lot of people who have to leave at 1:00, cutting your tour short (that happened at Fossil Rim, I was very mad).

All this is to say, generally, if you show a passion, most keepers won't mind showing you a thing or two.

 

Day Eight: Central Park Zoo/Bronx Zoo

The oldest zoo in America (animals on site since the 1860s) is also one of the smallest, at just 6.5 acres. However, this WCS-run zoo does not disappoint, with about 150 species in that small space. The main zoo is divided into three main parts: Tropic Zone, Temperate Territory, and Penguins & Sea Birds, while the Tisch Children's Zoo is actually disconnected from the rest.

Tropic Zone is a sort of indoor rain forest, with birds being a staple. It is a mix of animals, primarily between Asia, South America, and Africa. This is successful, because the zoo does not attempt to separate continents, instead the room is just a conglomeration of animals from all over. Various parts have separated enclosures; for example, a tunnel is home to bats, and an elevated area has several exhibits for mammals and herps alike, notably, a cloud rat. Overall, this exhibit does well, but the focus on birds is perhaps a bit much. Mammals are found in coatis and sakis, viewed from outside the building, a few monkeys in individual enclosures, and a mouse deer, free to roam.
I unfortunately am only slightly better at photographing green peafowl than maleos.

Temperate Territory is the zoo's primary outdoor exhibit area. The best (and I believe newest) exhibit is for snow monkeys, an enclosure surrounded by water, but with varied access to elevation. The only problem is I barely saw any, but I suppose it was just a low-activity day
Waterfowl make up two of the exhibits here. One was just for black swan, while the other was for a varied (and unfortunately, unsigned) aviary. I only saw scaly-sided merganser and black stork. However, these are nothing to scoff at with the mergansers being one of the rarest ducks, and only five black storks being in the US. Unfortunately, the fence gave me a hard time for photography.

The remaining exhibits are for WCS favorites: snow leopard, red panda, and white-naped crane. Red panda is surely the most prominent in WCS collections: two exhibits at Prospect Park, one at Central Park, three at Bronx. Snow leopard is next, with ten! individuals at Bronx and at least three at Central Park, followed by white-naped crane, with a few individuals at those same two collections. Great exhibits all around. I think the crane shares with muntjac, but it was cordoned off for the nesting pair so I couldn't tell.
The next set of exhibits I believe used to be called "polar circle," but following the death of the last polar bear, I don't believe it is any longer. However, functionally, it still is, with exhibits for grizzly bear, harbor seal, penguins, sea birds, and one eagle-owl. The bears have a nice exhibit, with a large water feature (clearly designed for polar bears). The harbor seals have a rocky exhibit (on what land portions there are) reminiscent of the exhibit for the same species at the New York Aquarium. Underwater viewing is through a strange system, like the LA Zoo, but is good for an animal most people might not otherwise get a good look at. The indoor cold room exhibit follows this: one exhibit for penguins (gentoo, king, and chinstrap) with another for puffins (Atlantic puffin, , and buffledhead). They are typical of most penguin exhibits- the same stagnant rock for the birds to live on, with water that should be deeper. It was, however, a delight to see chinstrap penguin (for the second time on this trip) as it has very few holders in America. Outside, a Eurasian eagle-owl inhabits a small aviary.
Central Garden is just one exhibit: the famous sea lion exhibit. It could stand to be larger, but I guess it isn't bad.
Tisch Children's Zoo had the genetic farm animals, and a lot of ducks. The aviary, in addition to its 15 duck species, also has Patagonian cavies and fancy morphs of goldfish. The only notable thing about the farm section is that it features Manhattan's only cow:

Like the rest of the WCS zoos, there is a 4-D Theater here, which I actually chose to watch for once (I usually don't, even though they can be enjoyable). It was about Ice Age, and that poor little squirrel had more problems getting his acorn. It was funny, and the special effects, while minimal, still added to the film.

I enjoyed this small little zoo. It has a good mix of animals, some rare, some unique, some ABCs. This zoo, while smaller than the North Carolina Zoo's elephant exhibit, could entice me for a return visit in the future.

 

Nice review of the Central Park Zoo. The newest exhibit is the snow leopard exhibit. The snow monkey exhibit (and most of the rest of the zoo) opened in 1988.

 

Ah, I'm not sure where I got that idea then thanks for the correction.

 

Bronx Zoo: World of Reptiles

This will be a very short section, as I only had eyes for one animal in here: the Kihansi spray toad. The toads were in a normal-sized wall exhibit, and I actually took a while to find them because they're so small. They're very cool, one of the most unique amphibians I've ever seen.

Besides them, what I saw was more or less generic reptile house inhabitants: Grand Cayman blue iguana, king cobra, dart frogs, sailfin lizard, and others. I normally do enjoy spending time in reptile exhibits but I kind of tunnel-visioned towards a toad I've wanted to see for years. Some of the larger enclosures were cool: tomistoma, a pair of mixed enclosures taking a full hallway towards the exit, and others. Overall, it was definitely a cool building.

 

Day Nine: Prospect Park Zoo and New York Aquarium

Another of WCS's small park zoos, at 12 acres, the Prospect Park Zoo is about double the size of the Central Park Zoo and around two-thirds the size of the Queens Zoo. For the most part, its exhibits are not structured in any zoogeographic way, but Discovery Trail, the largest outdoor part, is an Australasian region.
When entering the zoo, it is impossible to miss the central exhibit: yet another for California sea lions (the only species in all WCS-run facilities?). It's in the same style as all the rest (except the aquarium) but is suitable enough. From here, the zoo is best toured in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. I did it in a counterclockwise direction.
The first exhibit, open without appointment only on weekends, is a small room called Discovery Corner. It is geared towards children, with a play area and eye-level exhibits for a few turtles and hissing cockroaches. There is indoor viewing for a red panda exhibit, and the only available viewing in the zoo for a great horned owl. The enclosures are nothing to write home about.
Aviaries lead to a barnyard area next. Two larger exhibits have Himalayan monal, and one shares with white-crested laughingthrush. The other two exhibits are the aforementioned red panda exhibit and one for silver pheasant.

The barnyard area is another generic exhibit, characteristic to most children's zoo areas. Goats, sheep, waterfowl, etc.
From here, you enter the Hall of Animals. It's essentially a lot of terrariums, but has animals other than herps. The first room has several exhibits, and two species I hadn't seen before. One was Solomon Island spiny-necked monitor.

And the other was African yellow white-eye, in an exhibit with Australian finches, unfortunately moving far too fast for a decent photo. Another room talks about animal lifestyles, and is a dark room with several rarities: brush-tailed porcupine, woylie, and Madagascar giant jumping rat. Unfortunately, the fan in the enclosure of the latter broke so it was off exhibit (it shared with a loris of some kind). Disappointing, as the one at Bronx was sleeping once, and awake, but hidden the other time. A long hall, mostly with amphibians, constitutes the other part of the building. I saw blessed poison frog for the first time, which was cool.

Animal Lifestyles is the final indoor exhibit. The first room is a rotunda, with exhibits from several areas. One cool exhibit has wreathed hornbill and Victoria crowned pigeon.

I had to edit this photo a bit more than I'd normally like to, for it to be clear, and as such, it's a bit dark. I'd appreciate any feedback.
Another has a sleeping Pallas' cat. Well, it was sleeping for me, but everyone else of ZooChat seemed to see it awake, based on the gallery. I never see Pallas' cats awake, but at least I could see part of its body, rather than the complete no-show at Columbus or the ear at Cincinnati. The first dedicated Brazilian exhibit I've seen had golden lion tamarin and rock cavy, as well as red-footed tortoise.

The back of the building featured a large hamadryas baboon exhibit. I rarely see baboons in zoos, is there a reason for this? I think I've now seen hamadryas twice, olive once, guinea once, and gelada (if you consider it a baboon) once, and that's it. It was fun to watch them, especially a mother that prevented her baby from running off by grabbing hold of his tail. One other cool exhibit in this building had lettered araçari, and I think there's only one other holder in the US.

This building was pretty neat, with some uncommonly seen species, and most of the enclosures weren't bad for their inhabitants, space-wise, even being indoors.
Discovery Trail is the final exhibit, and the main outdoor exhibit at the zoo. It begins with black-tailed prairie dog, which is quite strange, as the rest of the trail is predominantly Asian. There is a large lake, home to rare species such as Baer's pochard, and a few areas for children to play. The next are was Australian in theme, with the rarest species being dingo. They were the most active dingos I've seen, and I believe this is the fourth place I have seen the species. The visitor area appears to have formerly been a large walkthrough for kangaroos, wallabies, and the like, but the animals were no longer there. Smaller enclosures for emu, red panda, and African crested porcupine follow, the latter seemingly out-of-place here, as is the next exhibit, for North American river otters. After this, a nice and spacious exhibit for the rarely-seen tufted deer, as well as demoiselle cranes, is found. The final exhibit here (and in the zoo) is the aviary. It's apparently been home to rare and cool species such as red-knobbed imperial pigeon, and Chinese hwamei, but all the birds I saw generally stick to the ground. It was very cool to get a good look at the beautiful black-necked crane.

I definitely liked the Prospect Park Zoo, a small place that I will certainly revisit given the chance.

New York Aquarium:
Still in the process of rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy, this aquarium is really small. Concept art posted throughout looks promising, though, and a return will be warranted after the expansion's completion. As it stands, though, there are only four exhibits, three of which have less than five tanks.
The first exhibit is Glover's Reef. It is one large main tank and two or three off to the side. They all contain reef fish, though one is a coral growing exhibit. Next is Conservation Hall. Several freshwater fish are exhibited (and some, bred) here, including the Madagascar rainbowfish.

There are exhibits here for various African lakes, such as Lake Malawi. There was also one on the Amazon River. It was a nicely presented exhibit.
The remaining two exhibits are viewed from outside. Sea Cliffs has exhibits for marine mammals (California sea otter, harbor seal, and California sea lion) as well as black-footed penguin. There used to be walruses, but unfortunately they have all moved to other facilities. The concept art does indicate a "Beringia" exhibit with a walrus, so hopefully that comes to fruition! The exhibits are all suitable, but size for the mammals could be improved.
The last exhibit is the temporary home for sharks, and I am very glad it is temporary. It is a boring, poorly-lit tank with a few species of shark and ray. Sea turtles are signed, but the tank is small enough I can't have missed them if they were in the tank. Based on the gallery, it apparently used to hold beluga whales, which is even worse. I suppose it is adequate, but is a smear on the otherwise well-run WCS facilities.

These were two very nice, if small (and with their bad spots) facilities. After the aquarium, I enjoyed the beach of Coney Island, and then entered Luna Park to ride the Coney Island Cyclone, one of the most famous and oldest roller coasters (which I do enjoy) in America. It was most certainly a rip-off at $10 a ride, but a cool one-time experience to ride a ride that this year will be 90 years old.

And that wraps up my New York trip! I will keep reviewing the Bronx Zoo piece by piece, assuming people are reading my posts and will eventually piece together the reviews in threads under the appropriate forums.

 

Bronx Zoo: Mouse House
As the name suggests, this exhibit is all about rodents and similar species. The small building consists of a diurnal wing and a nocturnal wing, with a high number of species, especially rare ones!
The first exhibit on the right is truly a showstopper for anyone into rare species. The small, desert-themed exhibit holds the only Daurian pika on exhibit, anywhere in the world.

Other rarities include two species of elephant shrew (or sengi, if you're so inclined), rock cavy (the first ones I saw, anyways), and African pygmy mouse, a species I thought had died out in America.

The nocturnal wing actually tended to have larger enclosures, unlike many nocturnal exhibits. The first four or so were large. Screaming hairy armadillos, one of my favorite species, was the first, followed by a much larger species: Northern Luzon giant cloud rat (or slender-tailed cloud rat). I knew it was going to be a big rat, but they were huge. The zoo had a white-colored individual (not leucistic or albino, it occurs naturally in the wild). What's the reason for this in cloud rats, if anyone knows? There was a normal-colored individual as well, though not in a great spot for a photo

Reminds me of the time I didn't see Panay cloud rat at the LA Zoo... oh well. I guess its an excuse to go to London, or perhaps some Czech zoo! The third large enclosure is for Mohol bushbaby and Malagasy giant jumping rat, two species I wish were more common in the USA. I have rotten luck with jumping rats, and here was no better. I've now been to every American zoo that has or had the species on exhibit in recent years, and have only seen the species awake and active at Omaha several years ago. The second time I visited this house, the rat was awake, but didn't move from its log. The rest of the house had some cool species (eastern spotted skunk, greater jerboa, bushy-tailed jird) but I either got very brief and poor glimpses (like the jerboa) or did not see the species at all. The bushy-tailed jird was an especially unfortunate miss, they're quite adorable. Oh well, perhaps I'll see them when I come back this summer.

That wraps up the Mouse House! Despite the unfortunately large amount of no-shows, I really liked this exhibit, and the rarities I did see, such as Daurian pika and cloud rat. I wish I could have spent more time there.

 

To be fair, I don't know of anybody who saw the cloud rats at LA. I certainly never did, and I tried many times.

Malagasy jumping rats have almost disappeared from the US unfortunately; I think Bronx and Omaha are the only two places that have them now. What makes this even more unfortunate is that not only are they fascinating and visually striking, but they are also endangered. I used to enjoy seeing the one at Smithsonian until it was replaced with brush-tailed bettong.