Texas Zoo Birds 2001 (Part II)

Abstract

Fort Worth Zoological Park

(Editor's Note. The following paragraph was inadvertently cut off the end of the account of the Fort Worth Zoo in the preceding Watchbird. Apologies to the zoo and the author. Ed.)

The Green Jay is the avian mascot for Texas Wild', set to open late spring of 2001. This enormously elaborate interpretive center is especially designed to present the more positive aspects of the human impact on the varied Texas ecosystems. The Gulf Coast aviary will feature Fort Worth's famous breeding colony of Roseate Spoonbills, established in 1968, while White and Brown Pelicans will be exhibited nearby. Another walkthrough aviary will feature Roadrunners, Burrowing Owls, Scaled Quail, White-winged and Inca Doves, and Green Jays. Other birds visitors will find include Peregrine and Aplomado Falcons, Bald Eagles, Caracaras, and Turkey and Black Vultures.

Fossil Rim Wildlife Center

Amidst the plethora of drivethrough safari parks encountered up and down Texas and Oklahoma, Fossil Rim stands out as a vital center for conservation projects. Occupying 1500 acres in Glen Rose, about 50 miles almost due south of Fort Worth, this partially nonprofit collection has long been wellregarded for off-exhibit propagation of Grevey's Zebras, Black Rhinoceros, Red Wolves, Cheetahs, and Attwater's Prairie Chickens. The Fossil Rim flock of Attwater's has been a vital component of the recovery efforts, without which it is quite likely this Gulf Coast endemic would have gone extinct years ago. On 31 December, 1999, ISJS indicates that Fossil Rim held 64 males, 68 females, and two unsexed birds, a very major proportion of the total population. There were also seven male, 10 female, and five unsexed Northern Greater Prairie Chickens.

I am not sure whether the pair of Red-crowned Cranes listed by ISIS are on exhibit or not, hut visitors will find such species as Emus, Greater Sandhill Cranes, and an assortment of psittacines, such as Eclectus, Moluccan and Bare-eyed Cockatoos, and Timneh Grey Parrots.

Dallas Zoo

When I first visited the Dallas Zoo in 1977, I was overwhelmed by a remarkable series of avicultural rarities. Many of these "jaw-droppers" were represented by a single specimen: Dark-naped Dwarf Cassowary; European Black Stork; Saddle-billed Stork; Crowned Eagle; Pallas' Sea Eagle; Congo Peafowl (then the only one in the Western Hemisphere); Wattled Crane; Kori Bustard; Whitebellied Black Bustard; Bronze-winged jacana, Golden Conure; African Wood Owl; Northern Shrike; African Pied Starling; Lawe's Six-plumed Bird-ofParadise. I was not at all surprised a few years later to find Dallas ranked only behind the San Diego Zoo for "number of species held by no other zoo" in the U.S. (Risser, 1981).

After nearly a quarter century, Dallas Zoo's bird collection impresses in quite a different way. Now heavily involved in the Species Survival Programs and Taxon Advisory Groups of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (none of which existed in the 1970s), its emphasis is on establishing and managing selfsustaining populations in American zoos. From the single specimens of Saddle-billed Storks and Kori Bustards that so impressed me in 1977, Dallas has gone on to sustained breeding successes with both. The first hatching of a Kori Bustard in the Western Hemisphere occurred there in 1992. The International Studbook for Koris indicates that on 7 March, 2000, eight were held at Dallas, of which three hatched there in 1999 (Hallager, 2000). One has since been transferred to the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco, while a 1998 bird lives in Fort Worth. The world's first captive-bred Saddlebilled Stork hatched at Dallas in 1997, and several more have been raised since. ISIS indicates seven present at Dallas at the end of 1999.

Most of Dallas's Saddle-bills and Koris are held in an elaborate off-exhibit propagation facility, which houses quite a variety of species, but specimens of both may be seen in Wilds of Africa. This section of the zoo was opened in 1992, on previously undeveloped land, and is reached from the older section (ZooNorth) through a pedestrian tunnel. In many ways it is maintained as a separate collection, with a different set of keepers, and separate quarantine. Along with Dallas's famous collection of African hoofedstock, Kori Bustards, Hooded and breeding Lappet-faced Vultures, Goliath Herons (another first U.S. breeding), Pink-backed and Old World White Pelicans, African Whitebreasted Cormorants, and a variety of African waterfowl can be viewed from a monorail.

On foot, one may see Saddlebilled Storks and a couple of aviaries.

In one, glass-fronted and built into rockwork, is a collection of African Finches, including West Nile Red Bishops and Black-winged (or Crimson-crowned) Bishops, as well as a number of interesting, if accidental hybrids. Among other species in the beautiful outdoor walk-through aviary, with its nearly invisible mesh, are a large flock of Fischer's Lovebirds, around a dozen Speckled Mousebirds, Crowned Lapwings, Buff-crested Bustards, African Green Pigeons, a large breeding flock of Speckled Pigeons, a pair of Greyheaded Kingfishers, Green WoodHoopoes, Red-and-Yellow Barbets, Golden-breasted Starlings, and Whiteheaded Buffalo Weavers.

In ZooNorth birds seen outdoors include an aged Harpy Eagle on loan from the Peregrine Fund, an Ornate Hawk Eagle, Bateleurs, a pair of Andean Condors (whose 2000- hatched offspring is intended for release in South America), the last Rufus Hornbill in a U.S. Zoo, Silvercheeked, Great, andJavan Rhinoceros Hornbills, Spectacled Owls, Green Jays, flocks of Chilean and Caribbean Flamingoes, and Goffin's Cockatoos. In a large aviary, dating from the 1930s, breeding colonies of Roseate Spoonbills and Scarlet Ibises live with Crested Seriemas and free-flying Scarlet and Hyacinth Macaws. Ocellated Turkeys, due to arrive shortly from a...

PDF

References

Hallager S. (2000) International Studbook for the Kori Bustard (Ardeotis kori). National Zoological Park

Lindholm, J.H. (1997) The Laughing Thrushes (Garrulax sp.). Part II. A.F.A. Watchbird XXIV (No.2):53-58.

__ . (1999) The Wrinkled Hornbill (Aceros corrugatus). AFA. Watchbird XXVI (No.5): 55-62

Risser, A.C. (1981) The future of zoo birdbreeding programs. AAZPA 1981, Annual Conference Proceedings.