aviary

An aviary is a large enclosure for confining birds, although bats may also be considered for display. Unlike birdcages, aviaries allow birds a larger living space where they can fly; hence, aviaries are also sometimes known as flight cages in the United Kingdom. Aviaries often contain plants and shrubbery to simulate a natural environment.

Various types of aviary

Large aviaries are often found in the setting of a zoological garden (for example, the London Zoo, the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and the San Diego Zoo). Walk-in aviaries also exist in bird parks, including the spacious Bird Paradise in Singapore, or the smaller Edward Youde Aviary in Hong Kong. Pittsburgh is home to the USA's National Aviary, perhaps the most prominent example in North America of an aviary not set inside a zoo. However, the oldest public aviary not set inside a zoo in North America, the Hamilton Aviary is located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Tracy Aviary is an example of a bird park within a public urban park, Liberty Park in Salt Lake City, Utah. Some smaller sized aviaries can often be found in European manorial gardens, such as Waddesdon Manor, UK, and Versailles, France. Some public aquaria, such as the Oregon Coast Aquarium, Newport, Oregon, or the Monterey Bay Aquarium, have aquatic aviaries.Birds

Oregon Coast Aquarium's official website
retrieved on 3 February 2007.Sandy Shores

Monterey Bay Aquarium's official website
, retrieved on 3 February 2007.

Home aviaries are popular with some bird fanciers who have the space for them. Many bird breeders refer to their setups as "aviaries", since most bird pairs breed better there than in breeding ''cages''. Home aviaries may be built by the owner or obtained from a commercial supplier.

There are two main subcategories of home aviaries: grounded aviaries and suspended aviaries. Grounded aviaries have a concrete base to keep out rats and other vermin. Suspended aviaries are elevated with only the 'legs' of the aviaries affixed to the ground, eliminating the need for a protective base. Most grounded aviaries typically feature a woodwork or PVC frame unlike the metal frame of public aviaries; however, it isn't uncommon for suspended aviaries to feature a metal frame.
Aviaries are also used for research purposes in ornithology institutes.

History

Early modern origins

Aviaries date back to at least the 1500s, possibly earlier, as found in the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan as noted by Hernán Cortés when he and his men arrived in 1521. Also the ''Raven Cage'' (created in 1829), is regarded as one of the oldest structures in the London Zoo.

Victorian revival

The first large aviary inside a zoological garden was established in 1880 in the setting of the Rotterdam Zoo. Aviaries were an important aspect for the many Rothschild houses that proliferated across Europe in the 19th century. This revived a late 1600s aristocratic custom, where the elite displayed power, status and wealth by exhibiting exotic birds and animals. For instance, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild built his aviary in 1889 at Waddesdon Manor, UK, erected in the style of Versailles' trelliswork pavilions.

20th century to modern day

In 1902, a flying cage was completed in the setting of the National Zoological Park of the Smithsonian Institution. A new ''Great Flying Cage'' was built in 1964.

The Saint Louis Zoo is home to the 1904 World's Fair Flight Cage. It is one of only two permanent structures built for the World's Fair which still remain (the other is the Saint Louis Art Museum's Cass Gilbert building). In 1904, it was the largest bird cage ever built. It remains one of the world's largest free-flight aviaries. The long, wide, and high cage was built by the Smithsonian Institution specifically for the St. Louis World's Fair. Local pride in the giant cage motivated St. Louis to finally establish a zoo in 1910.

In 1937, the San Diego Zoo's aviary designed by architect Louis John Gill opened; it was then the largest in the world. The mammoth steel structure, long, wide and more than high, funded by the Works Progress Administration at a cost of $50,000, had no beams, cross or guy-wires to impede the flight of the birds.

With the Antwerp cage system (1948), birds are only separate from public with a light system used indoor the ''Bird Building'' at Antwerp Zoo.

At the Frankfurt Zoo, the bird house was built in 1969. Its ''Bird Halls'' presented birds for the first time in large glassed miniature habitats. In diving exhibits, darters and kingfishers could be seen hunting under water, and in the free-flight hall visitors still walk amongst tropical birds in dense vegetation.Petzold, Dirk, "Zoologischer Garten Frankfurt am Main", in ''Encyclopedia of the World's Zoos'', Bell, Catharine E. (ed.), Fitzroy Dearborn, Chicago, 2001, Vol.3, pp.1452–1457. ;

Scherpner, Christian, "Walk-through Bird aviaries at Frankfurt Zoo", ''International Zoo Yearbook'', Vol. 5, No. 1, 1965, pp. 244–246.
In 1963, the same principle was used outdoors to construct the ''Bird Thicket'', ten aviaries surrounded by dense bushes and designed in various habitat settings, which visitors can enter through wire netted doors and curtains of cords.

The ''Snowdon Aviary'' in London Zoo was designed by Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, Cedric Price and Frank Newby, and built in 1962–1964.ZSL Architecture
ZSL, retrieved on 3 June 2008.

The Bronx Zoo's ''World of Birds'', a two-story bird house completed in 1972, is a huge, landscaped, indoor free-flight exhibit. The one-way flow pattern in the exhibit moves the visitors through twenty-five birds habitats, ranging from desert to tropical forest. Each setting recreates with impressive fidelity the microculture of the birds that fly merrily about within their diorama world, complete with living plants. Five of the aviaries are completely open: in two of the largest the uncaged public walks through the habitat with birds freely overhead.

The Henry Doorly Zoo's ''Simmons Aviary'' opened in 1983 and is one of the world's largest free-flight aviaries. About 500 birds from all parts of the world occupy the area of the aviary. In this exhibit, visitors see flamingos, ducks, swans, storks, cranes, spoonbills, ibis and egrets. The Aviary is long and rises to at the center. The structure of two-inch nylon mesh is supported by a system of cables and poles. The use of nylon instead of wire is a unique concept.Henry Doorly Zoo's Aviary
retrieved on 27 November 2008.

Birds of Eden bird sanctuary, located in the Western Cape of South Africa, is possibly the largest free flight aviary in the world. The aviary opened in 2005 and covers an area of with a total volume of . It is home to around 3,000 individual birds from 200 species.

List of public aviaries

Former aviaries

* Aviary — Lynchburg, Virginia
* Alfa Planetarium — Mexico
* Catalina Bird Park — California, United States
* Leeds Castle — Leeds, United Kingdom
* Living Coasts — Torquay, Devon, United Kingdom
* Snowdon Aviary — London, United Kingdom
* Jurong Bird Park — Singapore
* Varro's Aviary — Italy (ancient)

Gallery

File:1904 Flight Cage.JPG, 1904 Flight Cage
St. Louis Zoo
File:Snowdon Aviary at London Zoo-30April2005.jpg, The Snowdon Aviary in London Zoo
File:Voliere Schoenbrunn.jpg, Aviary in the gardens of Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria
File:Vulier.JPG, Aviary in a farm of Concorezzo, Italy
File:Aviary at Waddesdon Manor.jpg, The Victorian Aviary at Waddesdon Manor, a National Trust property in Buckinghamshire, 1889

References

External links

Waddesdon Manor's Aviary, YouTube video



1926 Scripps Aviary, San Diego Zoo

Birds of Eden
a aviary in South Africa

Tracy Aviary

My pets: Real happenings in my aviary
(1908)
Marshall Saunders

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Aviculture
Buildings and structures used to confine animals
Bird parks