Philadelphia Zoo's avian habitat on target

The Philadelphia Zoo confirmed yesterday that its new $17.5 million McNeil Avian Center, a centerpiece of its sesquicentennial celebrations, was on target to "hatch" on May 30.

The center, funded in part by the McNeil family (of McNeil Laboratories) and a Kresge Foundation Challenge Grant, will offer walk-through habitats that include more than 100 exotic birds, such as the rhinoceros hornbill and the violaceous turaco.

Also taking off is a Free-Flight Bird Show and 4-D Migration Theater, in which viewers can follow Otis the Oriole on his first migration to Central America after hatching in Fairmount Park.

The sesquicentennial celebrations begin March 21 with a Victorian-themed Sesquicentennial Weekend at the zoo, complete with an exhibition about the zoo's history. That date is the 150th anniversary of Pennsylvania's chartering of the Zoological Society of Philadelphia to open the nation's first zoo.

Asked how the McNeil Center would change visits to the zoo for bird lovers, Andrew J. Baker, the zoo's chief operating officer and vice president of animal programs for 17 years, pointed to the "lush new habitats" and enhanced educational experience.

Zookeepers have been "working with the birds to train them for behaviors that help us take good care of them," such as stepping on a scale or entering a crate for transportation, he said.

"That's something that visitors will actually get to see," Baker said. "They'll get to watch these training sessions" that involve natural behaviors like nest-building and aerial acrobatics.

"You might see a hornbill catch a grape in the air. There's going to be a lot of engagement with the birds. That's something that has not been done in the past."

To create the McNeil Center, the zoo has "recycled" its neoclassical 1916 Bird House, maintaining the historic facade, gutting and redesigning the interior, and installing a geothermal system that should reduce energy needs.

The zoo's executives are excited, but are enough zoo-goers the kind of bird lovers who will share such enthusiasm?

Baker conceded that "you've got your A, B and C species that everyone thinks of first when they think of the zoo" - elephants, tigers, bears - and they don't include birds.

"But I think birds really play a central role," he said. "For one thing, birds are animals that you can be in the same space with. . . . You can't be in the same space as a bear or a hippo. It's a much more direct experience."

It is possible, Baker warned, "that a bird might land on your head. We hope that doesn't happen. You might have a bird whiz past your shoulder, or be sitting on a branch right in front of you. . . . It will be a really unique experience."

Bill Larson, the zoo's director of communications, mentioned another new way the zoo is winging it.

"We've created these little bird detective kits" that families can take with them after a visit, he said, "to foster a family's interest in bird-watching and conservation."


Source: philly.com