Thank you very much @Rayane for this new post. How many Barbary red deers and Marco Polo argalis have you seen ?
I think I saw a male and three females Barbary red deers. The Argalis are split into 2 groups, 3 are next to the Urials and the 3 others (on the picture) were next to the Eurasian crane exhibit if I remember correctly. They certainly have more though as I didn't see any female.
Tierpark Berlin (3/3) – Alfred Brehm house and others Let’s talk about the new Alfred Brehm House. They had to renovate as the building was getting very old, they did a good job overall in my opinion, I just hope they’ll manage to keep the theming just about right, considering what makes the Tierpark such a unique place, its very simple and effective way of exhibiting. The new ABH is not different enough from the old one for me to call it an incoherence, but the drawings for the future Elephant House and Himalaya area tell a very different story from the Tierpark’s one. Even with this renovation, they managed to leave a ridiculously small Palawan leopard cat exhibit. I’m not sure if it has an outside area. The exhibit is, as far as I remember, the same it was in 2018. A very dark exhibit, and the tiny available area doesn’t encourage the cat to wander around, as it is always in the spotlight if not hidden. The real species I was after in the ABH was in the bird walkthrough. Since they are gone or off-show in Zoo Berlin, the Tierpark is the last place displaying Asian pied starling in Europe. My third visit was the good one, I was very happy to have the starling for myself just before closure time, a very nice bird quite different look wise from other starlings. The lone Barred eagle-owl is almost a guaranteed sight, waiting in its own aviary within the walkthrough. The Harpy eagle, the Rusty-barred owls and the Sri Lankan spot-bellied eagle-owls are also quite easy to see, they’re in the Bird of prey part of the zoo and are also pretty much always visible. And finally, a lifer for me, Great bustards, even bigger than expected, kilograms away from the cute Little bustard. It is located in a very big enclosure next to the Fridrichsfelde's Castle's gardens. On your way to the deers, on the left side. Next will be Zoo Leipzig.
The photo below shows a male Bawean Deer (Axis kuhlii) from October this year: Bawaen Deer (Axis kuhlii), October 2020 by Tomek posted 21 Dec 2020 at 9:36 AM
Zoo Leipzig I visited on Germany Unity Day. The most crowded zoo visit I ever had, and I’ve been in Pairi Daiza mid-August. Off course I should not take that into consideration, but I think I’ll have to go back to Leipzig to truly enjoy it. Gondwanaland is great, the boat ride is a good idea but Masoala remains my favorite. I thought the enclosures dotted around Gondwanaland ruined the rainforest feeling. Can’t wait to visit Burgers to finaly be able to determine which European jungle I like the most. I really had a great time in the Bird house. Simple but full of nice species and a breath of fresh air as it was way quieter than the other parts of the zoo. In a way, Leipzig felt like a good comparison to Zürich : a big jungle, a nice group of elephants, several apes, a nice african savannah and a little bird house. One big difference between the two, which is probably Zürich biggest quality, is in my opinion the attention to details. Where everything looks almost clinical in Zürich, the scratched glass viewing areas in Gondwanaland and the cage-like aviary in the elephant house really lacked behind the higher standards the zoo has in other areas. The main highlight was off course the Chinese pangolin, which I heard being called a sloth. Maybe due to the long claws ? Seeing it was easy, photographing it however was challenging. Both individuals were very active, and due to the extremely low light, I had to use very high ISO + a very slow shutter speed, making moving subjects about the worst thing ever to shoot under these settings. Twighlighter advised me before my visit to rush directly to Gondwanaland, as it can get really crowded. I was happy to arrive early enough for the Eastern quoll exhibit to still be enlightened. I didn’t spend as much time in Gondwanaland as I thought I would, it was just too busy. I didn’t see any of the free-ranging birds I was looking for, the Great Kiskadee and the Sierra Leone green pigeon I hope to see next time. All the other rarities I saw were housed in the Bird house. First with the mammals, I was happy to see and shoot the Black-and-rufous sengi. Really nice sengi, even bigger than the one I saw in Philadelphia. Second mammal highlight of the house were the Sri Lankan giant squirrels. One was of the dandolena subspecies, while the on the picture is, I think, of the nominate subspecies. Onto the birds, my main goal was to get a nice picture of a Yellow-crowned gonolek, as I couldn’t get any nice pictures in Berlin. There are still a few species I’d like to photograph there but it’ll require a good few hour in Gondwanaland and maybe a better lens. Definitely a zoo I will go back to, on a quieter day hopefully. Next on the list is Zoo Magdeburg.
Zoo Magdeburg Probably my favorite small zoo. It is tiny, and it has a very limited collection full of treasures and rarities. Exhibits are overall nice, some are very good, some too small. What is really striking about this zoo is the amount of interesting species in a such "small" collection. Understand that apart from the many very rare species, many of the other animals are not very common either (Brown-breasted barbet, Lesser kudu, Maguari stork, Spotted whistling duck…). A real effort is made choosing the species, as it really makes this place formidable. The most wanted species was the Grandidier’s vontsira. No-show for me, although I met @Tomek there that somehow managed to see it from very close. Still jealous to this day, I hope to see it next time. Photography taken by him, used with his permission. Biggest highlight of the day was the 40 minutes I spent with the Marbled polecat for myself. It was my first visit to its exhibit, and he really did everything he could to help me get nice pictures. A wonderful species, sadly only exhibited in Magdeburg in Europe. I luckily caught the Red-flanked variegated squirrels at their feeding time. I managed to get a few shots before they disappeared again. Not the best ones, but I didn't get any other chance with them or with any of the other squirrel species of the zoo. I spent way too much time waiting for the Vontsira to show itself that I did not spend enough time on the other species. I will definitely have to go back, but in the mean time, just know the very rare Cape shovelers are kept in the main duck pond along with Cape teals, Mallards and other species. Then onto the African part, sadly the little aviary walkthrough was closed but it was pretty easy taking pictures through the fence. Here I managed to get a few ok pictures of the Double-spurred spurfowls. It is a very neat small exhibit, the weavers were very busy nesting. I also saw my first Nubian ibexes, they share their exhibit with Geladas, Blue-winged geese, and South African black ducks. The exhibit is definitely good enough but not as impressive as the one in Zürich. The two last rarities I managed to shoot were the Papuan agile wallabies and the Golden-bellied mangabeys. The first ones are in a pen next to the Onagers. The mangabeys are in the monkey house. Overall, I will have to go back to Magdeburg as I really think I'd really like a shot at getting better pictures of all these wonderful species. The two other extreme rarities not mentionned yet, the Reichenow's helmeted guineafowl and the Marsh mongoose are both off-show at the moment. Zoo Dresden is next.
