Posts Tagged ‘Birds’

Dec
26

12 Days of Grub: Day 12 – Twelve Flamingos Flocking

Posted by in Birds,Gift of Grub,Holidays

On the Twelfth Day of Grub, your zoo gift will help to feed…Twelve Flamingos Flocking, Eleven Meerkats Mobbing, Ten Chimps a Chasing, Nine Fruit Bats Flying, Eight Giraffes a Galloping, Seven Snakes a Slithering, Six Mole-rats Mining, Five Golden Frogs, Four Calling Birds, Three Wild Dogs, Two Grizzly Bears, and Darwin the Cassowary! CLICK HERE to read them all!

Chilean Flamingos Feeding at the Houston Zoo

 

Here at the Houston Zoo, one of the most beautiful sights is our large flock of Chilean Flamingos. These brightly-colored birds are social, vocal and highly interesting. Amazingly, the size of our flock is nothing compared to the spectacular gatherings these birds would naturally form in the wild; Chilean Flamingos are known to form flocks numbering into the thousands!

 

Flamingos have grooves along the edges of their beaks used for filtering small food items from the water

Without question, one of the most intriguing aspects of these unique birds is the way they feed. Flamingos have a specialized beak designed to help “filter” small plants and animals out of the water, which are then consumed and metabolized to create the striking pink coloration! Flamingos will take in a mouth full of water (along with whatever happens to be in the water), and then use their tongue to push all the water through special grooves on their beak. The result is a mouthful of food that these birds will then eat!

Here at the Houston Zoo, our flamingos are fed a variety of different pelleted diets (depending on the time of year and their current metabolic needs). These pellets are made to be nutritionally complete, which could easily help contribute to the fact that several of our flamingos are in their forties and fifties!  Our flamingos also receive krill, a small species of shrimp that is relished as a treat.

A large group of animals can prove to be ravenous; Chilean Flamingos are no exception. Our flock of birds readily eats through 50+ cups of pelleted diet per day. In addition, 5lbs of krill per week are consumed by our flamingos. When temperatures hit lows in the winter, these amounts are increased to keep up with the metabolic needs of these amazing birds.

Give the Gift of Grub by December 31 to help provide our flamingos and the rest of the Zoo’s 6,000 animal residents with all the tasty and nutritious grub they need to stay happy and healthy in the New Year! 

Thank you to TXU Energy for generously matching the first $25,000 in donations this year!

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Nov
27

A Rainbow in the Swap Shop??

Posted by in Birds,Children's Zoo

Yes indeed there was a rainbow in the Swap Shop.  But this was Rainbo the Electus Parrot.  Rainbo is one of our animal ambassadors here at the  Houston Zoo and often comes out for presentations.  He knows quite a few behaviors and recently spent some time in the swap shop, to the delight of our guests.

Rainbo painting with trainer Amber Zelmer

One of his favorite learned behaviors is painting.  His trainer dips the brush in paint and then Rainbo holds it in his beak and sweeps the brush across the canvas.  He is quite artistic and has his own distinctive  style.   Rainbo is also quite a talker and knows more than a dozen different words and phrases.   He does several animal imitations including cat, dog, snake, and his newest imitation, monkey. 

An interesting thing about  the Eclectus Parrot is that the male and female are VERY different in appearance.  While you can see Ranbo is a beautiful green – the females are a bright scarlet red.  This is called sexual dimorphism.  Electus parrots are so sexually dimorphic that they were thought to be two different species for a long time.

 

You never know who you will see in the Naturally Wild Swap Shop.  Don’t know about the Swap Shop?  Click here for more information. 

 

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Nov
25

12 Days of Grub: Day 1 – Darwin the Cassowary

Posted by in Birds,Gift of Grub,Holidays

Sing along with us!  On the First Day of Grub, your zoo gift will help to feed… Darwin the Cassowary!  (Who needs a partridge in a pear tree, when you’ve got a bird that can eat a pear in one gulp!?)

Our Double-wattled Cassowary, Darwin, may be the most notorious chow hound at the Houston Zoo.

Darwin weighs in at 110 pounds and eats 11 pounds of food daily.  His diet consists of a wide variety of fruit (strawberries are his favorite), vegetables, and a special dry pellet diet, that smells and looks a little like guinea pig food!   That’s over 4000 pounds of food a year, about the weight of a fully grown male elephant!

Darwin doesn’t just eat a TON (or two!) of food, he can eat very large pieces of fruit as well.  He doesn’t chew or break up his food very often; he just tips his head back and swallows the food whole. Check him out:

Due to their impressive eating talents, cassowaries in the wild are known as a keynote species in their native rainforests.  These birds are the only known animals who can distribute the seeds of over 70 different kinds of trees whose fruit is too large to be swallowed by any other animal.

Not only that, but there are 80 species of plants whose seeds have such a high toxicity that only the cassowary can eat and distribute these fruits!  Cassowaries are aided in this by the relatively shortest and fastest digestive system in the bird world, a powerful liver, and a very unique set of stomach enzymes.

This super fast digestion means that very often, fruit will pass through Darwin’s system before being fully digested.  Cassowaries practice coprophagic behavior…let’s just say they recycle the undigested pieces of food.  Waste not, want not!

To see just how quickly Darwin can eat, you must watch this nail-biting video of a peach eating contest between Darwin and his keepers.  It may not end the way you would guess!

 

Give the Gift of Grub this holiday season to help provide tasty meals for Darwin and all of the animals at the Houston Zoo!  Between now and December 31, TXU Energy has generously agreed to match all donations, up to $25,000 total, so your gift could go TWICE as far.  That means you could help provide TWICE the peaches for Darwin!

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Oct
28

Meet the Staff: Mollie Coym

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Birds,Featured,Meet the Staff

Hometown: Houston, TX

Department/Title: Senior Bird Keeper

How long have you worked at the Houston Zoo? About 5 years.

How long have you worked in your field? Over 8 years

Favorite Animals: Blue and Gold Macaw; Attwater’s Prairie Chickens

Do you have any animals at home?: I have a Blue and Gold Macaw named Trinity.

Quote:

“Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.” – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Special Interests: I like to travel and I’m a 4th degree black belt in martial arts.

What made you want to be a zookeeper?

I had many pets as a kid and always loved animals…basically, it just seemed like a fun job!

Education/Training: I earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Houston in 2002. I’m working on a Master’s from George Mason University in Zoo and Aquarium Leadership.

Previous Jobs: I worked at the Downtown Aquarium for two years and Moody Gardens for one year. I also volunteered at the Houston Zoo for a while.  I came to the Houston Zoo because I really enjoyed working with the great people and animals.

What advice would you give to anyone wanting to be a zookeeper?

Volunteer or intern in a department with animals you think you’d like to work with.  This will give you hands on experience and lets you see if it is really something you want to pursue as a career.

What’s your favorite animal story?

One of the bird species I work with is the endangered Attwater’s Prairie Chicken.  This year we received the exciting news that several birds successfully raised and fledged chicks in the wild.  Since the captive breeding program started in the early 1990′s, many of the captive raised birds have been released to the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, Texas City Prairie Preserve, and private land in Goliad, Texas. While many of these birds have made nests, laid eggs, and hatched chicks, this is the first time released birds in the wild have raised and fledged their own young.  This is great news for the captive breeding and release program because it proves that captive raised Attwater’s Prairie Chickens have the ability to be productive in the wild.

 

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Sep
23

Animal Enrichment: Well, They Certainly Have Something to Say About That…

Posted by in Birds,Enrichment,Events

People like to watch animals actively engaged in their environment – it’s true. It’s my opinion that natural behaviors are so inviting because they create the feeling of being somewhere special. Particularly when observed in the presence of our beautifully kept and planted grounds, animals presenting natural behaviors gives the feeling of being somewhere “wild.”

For our part, keepers do our best to encourage a variety of natural behaviors. Not only is it beneficial for our guests to see the amazing natural behaviors that cause us to love every minute of our jobs, it’s enormously beneficial to provide for the mental and physical wellness of our animals by providing enrichment opportunities. Did you know that an effective enrichment program can help to stabilize fluctuating weight, help with mild health concerns and even encourage breeding in some species? It really is that important to the overall well-being of our animals.

These are our Grey-winged Trumpeters (Psophia crepitans) utilizing a basic puzzle feeder. Such items are wonderful because they make enriching animals a much more viable possibility. The simple fact is that there are only so many hours in a day, and when keepers are responsible for such a diverse animal collection (more than 800 avian residents in our bird department, alone!) such readily prepared items are nothing less than magical.

Enrichment Day at the Houston Zoo is Saturday, September 24th.  This is a great opportunity to come and join in the fun.  Come out and see all of the animals enjoying special enrichment, hear keeper chats and loads of  fun games for kids of all ages!  Enrichment Day celebrates the meaning and joy of enriching our animals and visitors!

Find your favorite animals and see what they’re wishing for at Amazon.com. Then just sit back, shop, click and send your animal of choice a wonderful gift to enrich their life!  They really do appreciate it and so does the Houston Zoo!

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Aug
31

Animal Enrichment: Who Does the Parrot Want to Call?

Posted by in Birds,Enrichment,Events

As a child, I absolutely hated macaroni art. The act of gluing food parts to a sheet of paper seemed to me designed as some form of punishment, designed to punish me by having small pieces of pasta glued up and down my arms. Many other craft activities seemed to be along a similar thread, a waste of time with no real purpose. Being a zookeeper, I’ve had to re-evaluate my feelings because of a need to enrich a wide variety of animals.

 Animal care staff are fairly crafty people – we have to be. The simple fact of the matter is that a variety of crafts open up doors to creating new ways to interact with our animals and encourage natural responses. Being able to create our own enrichment has a variety of benefits:

 1) Purchasing enrichment pieces for all of our animals is simply not an option. With an animal collection numbering into the thousands, keepers at the Houston Zoo utilize their craftiness to come up with our own unique enrichment ideas for a fraction of the cost of purchased items.

 2) Items to be purchased are not necessarily meant for the wide array of exotic animals that are housed at the Houston Zoo. While there are a variety of objects available to encourage interaction, they are typically designed with more domestic species in mind. Designed objects can be created with a variety of animals in mind.

 3) Utilizing our creativity is a way for keepers to create many more nrichment opportunities than would normally be available. We can decide to change enrichment items to focus on different sensations or different natural behaviors.

　

This is our Pesquet’s Parrot (Psittrichas fulgidus) interacting with a phone book. As a novel item, this enrichment encourages a great deal of natural curiosity and observation. This bird is clearly observing the item from every feasible angle before finally reaching out to explore further using the nerve-laden tongue of a parrot.

 

 Want to help further? We also have a wish list of items that many people throw away in the course of their day; some days, these few small items can make all the difference in the world in helping to create a “new” zoo everyday

Enrichment Day at the Houston Zoo is Saturday, September 24th.  This is a great opportunity to come and join in the fun.  Come out and see all of the animals enjoying special enrichment, hear keeper chats and loads of  fun games for kids of all ages!  Enrichment Day celebrates the meaning and joy of enriching our animals and visitors!

Find your favorite animals and see what they’re wishing for at Amazon.com. Then just sit back, shop, click and send your animal of choice a wonderful gift to enrich their life!  They really do appreciate it and so does the Houston Zoo!

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Aug
26

Spotlight on Species: The St.Vincent Parrot’s Home

Posted by in Birds,Events,Spotlight on Species

The St. Vincent Amazon Parrot (Amazona guildingii) is found on the small, volcanic, Caribbean island of St. Vincent.  The island of St. Vincent is part of the country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  Houston is more than four times the size of St. Vincent!  This small island is the only place in the world that the St. Vincent Amazon Parrot is found in the wild.

The Caribbean, where the nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines is located.

The St. Vincent Amazon Parrot is listed as a vulnerable species, with less than 800 left in the wild.  The Houston Zoo has housed St. Vincent Amazon Parrots since 1967 and is currently the only zoo in North America to do so.

The Houston Zoo hatched Vincent Deuxieme in 2008

To learn more about this exotic species, their habitat, and their history on the island of St. Vincent, join us on Sunday, September 4th from 11 AM until 3 PM at the St. Vincent building (near Stormy the bird bank) for our Spotlight on the Species.

Keepers will be hosting fun activities about the island and the St. Vincent Parrot, including a volcano demonstration, flag creation station, face painting and more.  The keepers will also be there to answer any questions you may have about this special parrot.

This is one of the most beautiful birds, and your very own Houston Zoo is the only place they can be seen in all of North America so please mark your calendars and join us!

Written by Senior Bird Keeper Mollie Coym

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Jul
25

Bird Brained Challenge: The Results!

Posted by in Bird Brained Challenge,Birds,Contest

First and foremost, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to everyone who took the time to participate in our Bird Brained Challenge. With over 70 participants (not to mention views on the zoo’s blog page numbering into the thousands for the duration of the challenge), there can be no questioning that bird lovers can most certainly be found in Houston – a fact that makes perfect sense, considering that the Houston Zoo has one of the largest and most diverse avian collections in the country. Our wonderful readers have proven that they are not “bird brained” at all!

THANKS FOR PLAYING OUR BIRD BRAINED CHALLENGE!

I am very proud to point out that we have a wide array of supporters here at the Houston Zoo, many of whom participated in our challenge. Without the support of our valuable guests we would not be able to engage in such a variety of conservation and education endeavors. Therefore, we would like to offer an Honorable Mention to the following participants who provided answers for every single clue.

  • Benjamin Auces
  • Melissa Fellers
  • Jade Hems
  • Frances Karels
  • Nancy Padua
  • Brenda Stanley

Next, we have several contestants who demonstrated their impressive avian intelligence by answering every single clue correctly! We have decided to offer these contestants a consolation prize – a selection of magnets, painted by a variety of ducklings raised this year!

  • Margaret Atmar
  • Liz Turner
  • Jennifer Sullivan

Of course, we understand that everyone is concerned with the announcement of our winner. I’m sorry to say that we did not have a winner for our contest – we had TWO! Our two grand prize winners tied in points after answering every single post correctly. For this reason, we have decided to award both of our winners a painting done by ducklings raised at the Houston Zoo this year! Let’s have a hearty round of applause for:

  • Alaina Sheehy
  • Mary Reeves

This announcement of winners marks the end of our Bird Brained Challenge. We hope that all of our contestants had fun and learned something! Here at the Houston Zoo, our continuing goal is to “provide a fun, unique, and inspirational experience fostering appreciation, knowledge, and care for the natural world.”

We invite you to come and visit us SOON, and see all the birds from this contest, and more!

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Jul
22

Bird Brained Challenge: Answer #5

Posted by in Birds,Contest

This bird is the Rainbow Lorikeet!

Rainbow Lorikeets are an energetic and playful species that we are happy to have on display at the Houston Zoo. These bright and colorful birds are commonly classified with regard to their varying coloration. Green-naped Lorikeets are just one example of this highly-variable parrot.

Lorikeets of all types have a variety of adaptations for their specialized diet, and Rainbow Lorikeets are no exception. These small parrots eat a variety of soft fruits, but an important component of their diet is the nectar of a variety of plant species. Lorikeets have modified papillae (structures on the tongue) that resemble the bristles of a paintbrush. This adaptation makes these birds uniquely suited to consume plant nectar. Their scientific genus (Trichoglossus) actually refers to this adaptation.

Like most parrot species, the Rainbow Lorikeet can readily be found in the pet trade – and like most parrot species, the Rainbow Lorikeet is typically not regarded as a good choice for a pet. Parrots are loud and messy birds that require great amounts of social interaction to compensate for the interaction the bird would otherwise experience in the wild. Veterinarians specializing in aviculture are not as common as those treating mammalian companion animals, making care of these animals more difficult and potentially expensive. Furthermore, an abundance of information on the care of these animals exists in easy to access sources such as the internet – unfortunately, this information is rarely consistent from one source to another (and sometimes it is downright wrong). Instead, we encourage guests to take advantage of the chance to see and learn more about our parrots at the Houston Zoo, which includes the intriguing Pesquet’s Parrot and the critically endangered St. Vincent Amazon. In this way, guests can experience the wonder of watching parrots interact with a variety of stimuli, knowing that these animals are well cared for by the trained staff of one of the largest and most diverse avian collections in the country!

Photo by Leigh Spencer

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Jul
21

Bird Brained Challenge: Answer #4

Posted by in Birds,Contest

This bird is the Waldrapp Ibis!

The Waldrapp Ibis (Geronticus eremita) is distinctive bird possessing a long red bill, a flamboyant crest and beautiful green and purple iridescence. However, intriguing looks have not been enough to keep this bird from the endangered species list – it is critically endangered, with a wild population of fewer than 1000 birds.

As with most ibis species, the males possess a larger bill than females which can be used to identify the gender of a specific bird. Study has shown that males with larger beaks are more attractive to females and have greater likelihood for reproductive success. While this bird ideally nests in larger colonies, here at the Houston Zoo we have had great success producing chicks with a flock of less than 10 adults. We have produced 1-2 chicks annually for the past several years.

The Waldrapp Ibis (along with the Sacred Ibis) is widely regarded as a manifestation of Thoth, the Ibis-headed Egyptian God of Wisdom. Many birds revered in this sense serve as symbols of light, intelligence and power. Examples of birds in mythology include Ra and Horus (Hawk-headed Gods of the Sun and Sky, respectively), Quetzalcoatl (Aztec God of the Sky and namesake of the Quetzal, a group of brilliantly colored South American birds) and Huitzilopochtli (Aztec God of War – represented by a hummingbird!). Birds can also be found as manifestations of observation and wisdom through the owl of Athena (Greek Goddess of Wisdom) and the ravens of Odin (Norse God of Battle and the Hunt).

Photograph by Leigh Spencer

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