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Blue-bellied rollers (Coracias cyanogaster)
Arrived: Spike, April 2009; Roxie, May 2009
Herb & Nada Mahler Family Aviary
“GA-GA-GA!” If you hear this sound in the Milwaukee County Zoo’s Mahler Family Aviary, it’s probably the call of a blue-bellied roller. These noisy birds have beautiful blue feathers covering their lower chests and tails. The size, color patterns and tail feathers of male and female blue-bellied rollers are so similar that zookeepers take blood samples to tell the genders apart. Our Zoo has two blue-bellied rollers, Spike, a male, and Roxie, a female. In the wild these birds live in the African countries of Senegal and Gambia, where they are quite common. Their original habitat was wooded forests, but many of the trees were cut or burned down. The birds have adapted to live in the remaining trees near farms and grasslands, watching for food below such as insects and small lizards. In the Zoo, blue-bellied rollers swoop down from their perch and play with enrichment “toys” such as golf balls and plastic bottles filled with confetti. “These items stimulate the birds by allowing them to make choices with their surroundings or take out any frustration on the items,” says Carol Kagy, aviary area supervisor. Blue-bellied rollers get their name from their rolling behavior while breeding. During courtship, a blue-bellied roller pair will fly up and then spiral downward toward the ground. The birds eventually break away and roll like an airplane from side to side in the air. Spike and Roxie are on exhibit in the aviary’s Rainforest Hall (next to the free-flight area).
Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinator)
Arrived: April 22, 2009
Lake Evinrude
After three years of swan silence on Lake Evinrude, a new duet has taken the stage as a symbol of conservation. From 1989 to 2006, the highly musical trumpeter swan pair, Greg and Rachael, nested at Lake Evinrude and produced 56 offspring. Their “songs” were low-pitched, deep calls that sounded like trumpets (thus the trumpeter swan name). The duet ended when Rachael died, and Greg was moved to the pond in front of the Mahler Family Aviary in June 2006. But on April 22, 2009, the Zoo introduced two new trumpeter swans to Lake Evinrude, a male, 6, and a female, 4, from a private breeder in Minnesota. The new pair, named Vincent and Veronica, is continuing the Zoo’s musical tradition. Meanwhile, Greg and his new partner, Isabella, who came to the Zoo in September 2006, can be seen at the aviary pond. Both pairs of trumpeter swans are part of the follow-up to the Trumpeter Swan Restoration Program, a conservation project that has restored trumpeter swans to Wisconsin. In the 1800s, people hunted trumpeter swans for their beautiful feathers, which were used to make hats, quills, and powder puffs. As a result, the trumpeter swan population dramatically decreased. The Milwaukee County Zoo and the Zoological Society of Milwaukee partnered with Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources on the swan project. Between 1989 and 2009, 387 cygnets (swan chicks) hatched at the Zoo, and were given to the Department of Natural Resources for eventual return to the wild. “The Zoo has a long history with this species,” says Zoo Bird Curator Alex Waier, “and I think that exhibiting two pair highlights our commitment to this very successful reintroduction program.” If the new trumpeter swans produce young, the Zoo probably will release them into the wild to continue to build Wisconsin’s swan population.
Guam Kingfisher
Hatched: April 20, 2009
Herb & Nada Mahler Family Aviary
Jem is a fitting name for the Milwaukee County Zoo’s new Guam kingfisher. These extremely rare birds can be tricky to breed and hand-rear, but Jem was easy to handle as a chick – “a true ‘gem,’” says aviary area supervisor Carol Kagy. Guam kingfishers were decimated by brown snakes that were accidentally brought to their native Pacific island of Guam during World War II in the wheel wells of military aircraft. (The snakes also wiped out Guam rails, another endangered bird on exhibit at the Zoo.) By the 1980s, fewer than 30 kingfishers were found in the wild. The birds would have become extinct if zoos hadn’t initiated a captive breeding program with the goal of reintroducing them to their native environment. Today, thanks to the efforts of conservationists, 114 Guam kingfishers exist in the world, most in zoos. Several kingfishers have been introduced to snake-free enclosures on Guam, and conservationists hope to release more birds on off-shore islands free of snakes. Our Zoo has been a leader in breeding these rare birds – chicks have hatched successfully in 1995, 2006, 2007 and again in 2009 (we also have the oldest Guam kingfisher in captivity, a 21-year-old male). As in the past, hatching and rearing Jem was a team effort by aviary staff, who worked extra hours to care for her. They kept a log of the chick’s development, tracking milestones such as feathers coming in and fledging. (Kingfisher parents are encouraged to rear their own chicks when they’ve established a strong bond.) Jem will be off exhibit until she can join a breeding program at a different institution. But you can see Dylan, a Guam kingfisher hatched in 2007, in the aviary’s Guam exhibit.
Gentoo Penguins
Arrived: April 14, 2009
Herb & Nada Mahler Family Aviary
The Zoo’s six new gentoo penguins love the water. They are in and out of their pool all day long. After they finish swimming, they will burst up out of the water and land on their feet on the rockwork. “The new gentoos are very social and curious,” says Caty Poggenburg, a zookeeper in the aviary. “They always want to play with the hose when I am washing down the exhibit. And they love to steal the cleaning brush whenever I bring it into the room.” You can see the energetic gentoo penguins in the aviary’s indoor penguin exhibit, which they share with 14 rockhopper penguins. You can tell the rockhoppers because they have spiky yellow feathers on their heads. The gentoos have thin yellow beaks and a wide white patch on their heads that makes them look like they’re wearing ear muffs. In the wild, gentoos live on the Antarctic Peninsula and the subantarctic islands (such as the Falkland Islands), where temperatures range from a low of 20 degrees in winter to a high of 72 in summer. The exhibit is kept at about 40 degrees, the average of summer and winter temperatures in their wild habitat. Gentoos have the longest tails of any penguin species. The tail swishes from side to side as they walk. This is probably how they got their Latin name, pygoscelis, which means brush-tailed.
Sea Horses
Long-snouted sea horses arrived: September 4, 2008
Northern sea horses arrived: March 19, 2009
Australia Building
In the animal kingdom, females always give birth to the babies, right? Wrong! Sea horses, sea dragons, and pipefish are the only fishes in which the males become pregnant, not the females. However, the Milwaukee County Zoo’s long-snouted sea horses (Hippocampus reidi) and northern, or lined, sea horses (Hippocampus erectus) won’t be giving birth anytime soon because the Zoo doesn’t plan to breed them. You can visit the sea horses in their aquarium in the Australia Building. There are also two long-snouted sea horses off exhibit at the Aquatic & Reptile Center. If you look carefully at sea horses, you can tell the difference between males and females because the males have a special pouch on their stomach below the chest area. This pouch is used to incubate their young. When it is time to reproduce, the female sea horse deposits her eggs into the pouch, where they are fertilized by the male sea horse. The male sea horse is pregnant for three weeks before giving birth to a litter of up to 200 tiny baby sea horses, called “fry.” Pictured is a long-snouted sea horse in the Australia Building. This jet black and pink-speckled female spends most of her time clinging to sea grass with her prehensile tail.
