Pittsburgh Is for the Birds

Is that a Goura Victoria? Why, yes. It is.

Back on April 7, 2024, a few days before Total Eclipse Day in Western Pennsylvania, I took a trip to the National Aviary on the Northside of Pittsburgh.

The National Aviary is in Pittsburgh. That was not the surprise. The surprise was that the National Aviary not only is in Pittsburgh, but that it has been in Pittsburgh at the precise location since 1952. 

Longer than I've been alive. By the way, above, is an Athene Cunicularia. A burrowing owl. Which is ironic, since it is high up off the ground, in an enclosure, and not burrowed. As the old song goes: "Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick / Everyone knows a burrow owl lives in a hole / In the ground / Why the hell do you think they call it a 'burrow owl.'" Well, not this burrow owl. It lives up on a tree branch,.

Anyway. National Aviary. Pittsburgh. And here comes the first of two homages to Pittsburgh sports teams:

The Pittsburgh Condors! They played in the old ABA and disbanded well before the NBA-ABA merger. They now can be found at the National Aviary on Arch Street.

The male and female are kept in separate enclosures near the front entrance. Close up of the handsome male:

 

And this is the female with her baby condors:

Anyway, as I was saying, the National Aviary opened in 1952. I didn't know about it. We took no school field trips here. I only learned about a few months ago.

 

This could be a Cabot's Tragopan:

Apologies if I misidentified this.  This is the "Condor Court" part of the aviary. You can actually look in from outside the building. I don't recommend it. Pay the admission price. This price of birdfeed ain't birdfeed.

Not sure the bird species of this one. Could be one of the various ibises (ibes?) that live here.

This, of course, is the downside of waiting so long to post after a visit.

This one is definitely one of the vultures:

But which? The black head makes me think: Andean Condor, again. But I am guessing.

Perhaps this is the Amblyramphus holosericeus.

You know it better as the scarlet-headed blackbird. Or, perhaps, you don't.

Let's move out of "Condor Country" and into the Tropical Rainforest section and meet the star attraction:

This is a pigeon. Seriously. That's a pigeon. Goura victoria, or the Victoria-crowned pigeon. It may not look like the neighborhood winged rat, but it's a pigeon nonetheless.

And this is the real macaw:

Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus. The beautiful and always friendly-looking Hyacinth Macaw.

Let's have another look, shall we?

One of the interesting things about this section is that the birds run loose. These Victoria Crowned Pigeons frequently wander out from the confines of the Rain Forest Cafe into the neighboring sections because (a) they can and (b) they want to.

Quick. Somebody catch that Crown Vic.

Here are birds posing:

I believe those are a pair of Marbled Tral posing.

The problem with the Rain Forest section is that the birds are roaming free. If it's a recognizable species, such as the Hyacinth Macaw, I can label it as such. If it is a distinctive species, such as the Crown Victoria Pigeon -- I'm sorry -- Victoria Crowned Pigeon -- you can look it up easily. But this bird:

The bill makes me think "ibis," but the bird is not matching up with any birds listed on the aviary website.

And the identity of this fellow (or gal) (don't want to be misgendering anyone here) shall remain a mystery:

But this one is no mystery.

It's a penguin. Statue. A penguin statue. Which means we are entering the area where we will find the real deal:

The Pittsburgh Penguins!

Actually, these are African penguins. They live in the coastal area of South Africa, so they are used to a more temperate climate than other penguin species.

They actually look a lot like the Magellanic penguins, a.k.a. "Jackass penguins," that I met in Chilean Patagonia. Same size. Similar black and white pattern.

Not as oily of skin, which I am guessing is due to the climate difference between the southern tip of Africa and the southern tip of South America, which is much much closer to the Antarctic than Africa.

This section of the aviary is creatively named Penguin Point.

Moving on to the Wetlands section.

Muchos flamingos.

This one is known to be particularly aggressive at snatching shoe laces:

There were more birds than just flamingos in the wetlands area. Such as a lone pelican.

Pelecanus occidentalis. The brown pelican.

But I have some many photos of flamingos because (a) there were so many flamingos, and (b) they are so gosh-darn photogenic.

 

Not that these two aren't too.

I feel like every bird I cannot identify by species I'm just saying it's "a type of ibis." Maybe that pair are a type of ibis. I don't know. They didn't have name tags. Or species tags, as the case may be.

And this little boy loves fruit:

So let's conclude with another look at the Pittsburgh Penguin:

Life is good.