Hello everyone. I am an aviculturist at an aquarium in Utah. We will be building a new facility and I have been placed in charge of collection planning for a South American Rainforest Aviary. I would love to hear what some of you have done with mixed species, particularly toucans, aracaris, tanagers, dacnis, euphonias,mot-mots and macaws. Thanks! Deana
toucans and aracaris will be tricky as they will prey on the young birds of the rest. Macaws can be fine, but will destroy all your vegetation also they can be quite defensive of their nesting box.
My advice would be to build separate aviaries for toucans/macaws or any other larger species that you include if that's possible. How large will the aviary be? How many species would be included?
I myself have seen scarlet macaws in mixed species exhibits at many zoos, and they seem to do fine. I have also seen mot-mots in a large mixed species aviary. But as the above two mentioned, toucans should probably be kept in a seperate exhibit. I'd like to get some more details on this though.
I agree with all that's been posted. Toucans and aracaris are exhibited with a variety of birds in large mixed planted aviaries such as yours. But these are not breeding facilities. Motmots are no problem for anyone except butterflies and bugs. Most macaws will do so much damage to the plantings, if left free to fly, that they will make the exhibit a failure. Conures would be better. Deana, you might want to speak with the aviculturists at National Aquarium In Baltimore - they have a long history with this sort of exhibit
I think the destructive tendencies of macaw is very exaggerated. I've seen lots of macaws in well planted aviaries, most in private collections. True, they have the capacity to destroy most things, but they mostly chew their nest box and the places they perch (if they're bored). With a little imagination, macaws can easily be housed in planted aviaries.
Yes and No, I think. And that brings up an important decision point: If you are willing to edit the plant list and plant types to accommodate macaws then they can, of course, work. If you want to plant a tropical forest experience than the chances are great that the macaws will do some serious damage over time.
Macaws can be housed in a mixed aviary if done well. They will gnaw and they will destroy plants. This is natural behaviour and if the accomodation is not very big it will effect the view of your enclosure a lot. As we have no clue about the size yet I m very hesitate to say it will go well or not. As Zooplantman states you can consider to go for conures. I would recommend to look in the pyrrhura species then as they are less destructive then the aratinga ones (plus they're amazing animals to see). This genus also contains some endangered species which breed quite well in captivity and are easy to get which also gives you the option for a good educational message(although I m speaking from an European perspective and I m not sure which species are widely available in the US, but you can think of pyrrhura cruentata or the pyrrhura griseipectus (not sure how big the collection of the second one is in the US now) b.e.).
Thank you to all who have responded to my inquiry. More information on this exhibit is that it may be between 5,000 and 10,000 square feet. I am contemplating breaking it into two to three smaller aviaries so that we can house more of a variety and move birds around if necessary. It will also be two stories high.
What I would do is keep the majority of the space as a walk-through aviary, and have separate aviaries for any species that wouldn't work well with smaller birds. So this is where the toucans, aracaris and macaws could go. If they are available it would be cool to have hummingbirds in a separate aviary too, but I doubt it. For the walk-through: Ringed Teal, Rosybill, Sunbittern, Wattled Jacana, Crested Quail-dove, Green-cheeked Conure, Hawk-headed Parrot, Guira Cuckoo, White-tailed Trogon, Blue-crowned Motmot, Spangled Cotinga, Screaming Piha (probably unlikely), Troupial, oropendola and/or cacique sp. (might be better if they were separate), various tanagers, honeycreepers, finches and cardinals. Most of those are pretty common in zoos. Of course this would have a pond area for the waterbirds. That's just my personal idea, it may be too many species though depending on how many tanagers and related birds are included and what is available.
At the National Aquarium in Baltimore, the "stars" of the Rainforest are the Blue-crowned Motmots, Screaming Pihas, White-tailed Trogons and Yellow-headed Amazons. These are all medium-sized birds that deliver exceptionally well in either the visual or the vocal department. The Scarlet Ibis are nice too, but generally lurk high in the trees out of view. Tanagers and honeycreepers are gorgeous, but very small and flighty -- not easy to see. If you get them, definitely place some feeders near the pathways so visitors have a chance to see them. NAIB doesn't have Guira Cuckoos, Golden-headed Quetzals or Spangled Cotingas but they also fall in the medium-sized/active/visual category and are fairly common in the U.S. And if there's any way you can get Andean C0ck-of-the-Rock, get them! They were the absolute highlight of San Diego WAP's Hidden Jungle. Edit: Oropendolas too! Common, active, and have amazing calls/displays.
Thinking of ducks, Rosybills are a bit big for this setting. Ringed [as suggested] and Brazilian Teal are both excellent, and have very pretty wings which show well in flight if they are left full-winged. White-faced, Red-billed [Black-bellied] & Fulvous Whistling {tree] ducks are all appropriate. Almost any of the neotropical doves [Mountain Witch & any of the smaller ground doves might be a good combination] are worth including.
I see somebody already mentioned Mountain Witch doves under another name. What about Jacanas?. Some of the tree quails would be nice, if obtainable, also perhaps the smaller cracids. Trumpeters are worth a try, but don't alwasys mix well, with birds or people [in a walk-through setting].
I have only ever seen trumpeters kept separately and heard of them being kept in mixed exhibits but only with larger species. Where are they mixed in a walk-through with smaller birds?
San Diego WAP had them in Hidden Jungle for a while, but they were in an outdoor aviary with larger birds last time I was there. National Aviary has Gray-winged Trumpeters in their Wetlands exhibit. There are lots of small birds in there as well.
There are Grey-winged Trumpeters in the mixed walk-through tropical house at the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, Slimbridge, UK. I don't think they are breeding age yet, bgut when they are, would not be surprised if they get nasty with other things [like Roulrouls which I think are also in there] and have to be removed. I believe they could even get nasty with people, as pheasants can in a walk-through setting.
Over the years I have seen the Los Angeles zoo exhibit several South American species in a mixed setting. Trumpeters, Nanday Conures, Coscoroba Swans, Scarlet Ibis, Scarlet Cock-of-the Rocks and Crimson-rumped Toucanets (first successfully bred in captivity here). These in particular come to mind in their two walk-through aviaries.
