Cypress Aviary

Our Cypress Aviary is home to about 100 birds that are native to South Carolina's swamps.  All of our animals are non-releaseable, and many of the egrets and ibis came from rehab centers or other zoos.

In 2012, our white ibis started breeding and had six babies.  The adults are mostly white, and this juvenile has brown wings.  The exhibit is tidal, and many wild species of turtles, frogs, and fish come in to visit.

The largest population in the aviary is the black-crowned night-heron.  The adults are a striking black and grey with red eyes, and the juveniles have brown speckles with yellow eyes.  For the last four years, our herons have been very successful nesters.  While we are happy to have a self-sustaining population, we have decided to share our good fortune with other zoos. 

Night herons look the same whether they are male or female, so first we needed to do some gender testing.

http://youtu.be/44RQ2BHqmMM

We collect a drop of blood and mail it to a lab.  They send us the results in about a week.  We identify each birds using a band on their leg.

We began our testing on three babies that fell from their nest too early.  They were raised by zookeepers until they were old enough to be reintroduced to the adult herons.

Zoo staff have tested 28 birds over the last month, so we have this down to a science!   Last week, we drove the first group to another zoo.

Wood Duck Survey

We've had a very busy spring here at Brookgreen Gardens!  Last week I had the opportunity to participate in a survey of our wood duck nest boxes.  Two wonderful Brookgreen volunteers use their boat to visit 39 nest boxes.  It took about three hours to complete the survey.  We wait until most of the ducks are finished nesting, and look for evidence of those nests and successful hatches.

Each box is numbered, and its location is recorded on a GPS device.

Wood ducks prefer a clear flight path and will not use a box that is covered by water plants.  Allen needed to trim around several of the boxes while balancing on the boat.

Allen opened each box to check for evidence of wood duck activity.  Sometimes we found Prothonotary Warbler mommas or eggs (look carefully).

Richard found a yellow rat snake.  Once he determined that the nest was inactive, the snake was returned to the box.

This eastern screech owl returned for a second season.  He was not happy to see us, so we decided not to disturb "his" box.

And wood duck eggs!  Females lay about twelve eggs.  Many of the boxes had evidence of recent nesting and eggshells from successful hatches.

 

The scenery was quite nice as well, and we were able to peek at some heron nestlings.  I was happy to be a small participant in a successful program.