Birds
Troupial (Icterus icterus)
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Zoo collection includes: Three
Found in the wild: South America. Their range from northeastern Colombia east through Venezuela and into Aruba, Isla Margarita, Curaçao, southwest Guyana, Brazil, eastern Ecuador, Peru, and eastern Bolivia.
See Them at the Central Park Zoo: In the tropical rain forest. They usually travel in pairs.
Description: Up to 9 inches in length. The Venezuelan Troupial is fairly large in size, with a long tail and a bulky bill. It has a black head and upper breast. The feathers on the front of the neck and upper breast stick outward, making an uneven boundary between the black and the orange of the bird's lower breast and underside. The rest of the orange color is found on the upper and lower back, separated by the black shoulders. The wings are mostly black except for a white streak that runs the length of the wing when in a closed position. The eyes are yellow, and surrounding each one, there is a patch of bright, blue, naked skin. The wings also have white markings on them. It closely resembles its relation, the Baltimore oriole.
What do they eat: Insects and fruits.
Threats: Least concerned.
Fun Facts: The Troupial is the national bird of Venezuela. Pairs are monogamous and mated throughout the year.
Taveta Golden Weaver (Ploceus castaneiceps)
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Zoo collection includes: 10
Found in the wild: They are sub-saharan birds. They live in swampy woodlands along coastal East Africa from Kenya to Tanzania.
See Them at the Central Park Zoo: These beautiful yellow birds may be found flying all over the Tropic Zone of the Central Park Zoo. Since they are always on the move, it might be best to watch their basket-like nests, hanging from the palm trees throughout the building.
Description: The males are bright yellow with an orange coloring across the nape and breast. The wings and tail are a greenish color. Females are a dull, yellowish-olive color with paler yellow under parts. They have a yellow stripe above each eye.
What do they eat: Grass, Insects and corn seeds. At CPZ, they eat soft-billed bird diet and chopped fruits and vegetables.
Threats: Not endangered.
Fun Facts: It builds spherical grass nests, usually suspended over water. The males build the nests and the females pick out the best nest to decide which bird would be a good breeding partner. Strong claws and bills enable these birds to weave their elaborate nests. The weavers get their name from the elaborate, woven nests that they build. Each strand in a weaver’s nest is carefully woven into place, so that it is difficult to pull out even a single strand. Like most other weavers, Taveta golden weavers are very gregarious. They nest in large colonies, sometimes with other weaver species. They are very noisy birds, and their voice has been described as a “constant chattering”.
West African Long-tailed Hornbill (Bucerotidae)
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Zoo collection includes: Three
Found in the wild: Central and West Africa.
See Them at the Central Park Zoo: In the tropical rain forest
Description: A black and white large bird with a cool head of white feathers and a long curved beak. Its tail is very long with spots on the inside.
What do they eat: Hornbill diets span the spectrum from animals to fruits and seeds but most are omnivorous, mixing meat and fruit in their meals
Threats: Not threatened, however, like many other groups of birds, hornbills are hunted for food and consumed for medicine.
Fun Facts: There are 45 species of hornbills and are distributed widely through the tropical regions of Africa and Asia. Most hornbills live in forests, and nest in holes in trees, while the species of open habitats nest in cavities in hollow trees or in holes in cliffs. Hornbills have a remarkable breeding system. The female of almost all species is sealed into the nesting chamber in the tree during the breeding season. She remains there, laying and brooding her eggs and hatched young, with only a narrow slit-like opening to the outside. The female builds a wall across the entrance to the nesting cavity using her excrement, which cures to a very hard consistency. Sometimes the male bird assists with the building of this wall, using moist clay. Presumably, the walled-in female and nestlings are kept relatively safe from nest predators. However, both she and the developing nestlings must be fed faithfully by the male. In some species, the female breaks out of the nesting cavity once the chicks are partially grown. The cavity is then re-walled, and the female assists the male in gathering food for the hungry young hornbills.
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