Birds on a wire? Nope. On a railing.

I was surprised that a black crowned crane stood on the railing of the Columbus Zoo's Congo aviary viewing deck. I was more surprised that several birds spent some time there last Thursday. (In retrospect, I shouldn't have been surprised, given the poop on the railing.)


Here's another black crowned crane, but a juvenile. Its wings have adult coloring, and the golden crown is looking good, but the neck and body still have some brown, and the red cheek is still developing.

black crowned crane (juvenile)

The hamerkop and its partner were busy building a nest, but this one took a break.

hamerkop

The hamerkop's toes are partially webbed.

A hamerkop's feet

The blue-bellied roller is one of my favorite birds.

blue-bellied roller (side view)

blue-bellied roller (front view)

A speckled pigeon visited.

speckled pigeon

A sacred ibis preened.

A sacred ibis preens.

A sacred ibis's tail feathers

Black crowned crane

In the Congo Expedition area of the Columbus Zoo there is a building with an attached aviary, a view of a grey parrot exhibit, and a view of a colobus exhibit. I was looking at the parrots when a volunteer popped in from the aviary to say a crane was on the railing of the viewing deck. I hustled over there, and here's what I saw:

I don't know what I did to deserve this look:

The bird stood there for quite some time before turning around.

Cranes seem to be all legs, neck, and wings, and what wings they are! (Yep, another visitor was standing right there.)

The bird eventually hopped down to a bush:

At the lower-left is a juvenile, of which there are three. I'll post about them some time.

I thought "black" in "black crowned crane" referred to the velvet-looking patch on the top of the head, but "black" refers to the bird over all. As I learned from the International Crane Foundation, there is also a grey crowned crane. "Crown" refers to these cranes' fancy golden hairdos.


The Columbus Zoo does have grey crowned cranes, in the Heart of Africa, at the other end of the zoo. I have two photos of them, but the birds are far away and my zoom lens doesn't zoom enough to bring them close.

Orange animals

Photo captions in my posts often have links to more information.

Potamochoerus porcus

genus Pongo

Icterus galbula

Trachypithecus cristatus (juvenile)

Homo sapiens (juvenile)

A flying polar bear

The Columbus Zoo has five polar bears, including moms (and sisters) Anana and Aurora. Anana and daughter Amelia Gray were outside one morning, and daughter was in the water. Mom was dozing a ways back until a keeper appeared on the roof of the viewing building. In anticipation, mom roused herself. Keepers tossed floating fish food and the water roiled with trout. Then... 

Ready!

Set!

Go!

A keeper explained that Anana and Aurora, the first residents of the exhibit, learned that the fish are easier to catch while they're being fed (hence, Anana's leap). One would gather the fish food in her arms, and snacks would appear right there in front of her. The other would take food bits into her mouth and dole them out to unsuspecting trout. They also worked together to herd fish into a shallow area, or one bear would drive fish from one end of the tank to the bear at the other end. Then the bears switched places.

The keeper also spoke about the saltwater. She said there are about 100 trout in the tank and that they're generally too fast for the bears to catch. Trout are freshwater fish but can tolerate some salt. When there's too much salt, they become sluggish. When the exhibit and salinity control were new, the zoo anticipated replacing very few trout but had to replace 83.

North American songbirds

Here are a few birds from the Columbus Zoo North America aviary.

eastern bluebird

gray catbird

red-winged blackbird

rose-breasted grosbeak (immature male)