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Category: Birds

Ring-neck Parakeet

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Ring-neck Parakeet

(Psittacula krameri)

Seneca Park Zoo is the home to one female ring-neck parakeet named Stella. Her habitat is inside the annex as part of the program animal collection.

Animal Facts

Ring-neck parakeets have a green body with a red beak. They have a long, pointed tail that can be up to 10 inches long, more than half of the body's length.
Gregarious and loud. These birds use a shared roost throughout the year. The number of parakeets in the roost during spring decreases dramatically because the female birds stay on their nests while the males return to the roost. They do not migrate and are well adapted to living in areas that are affected by humans.
They have been kept as pets since ancient Greek and Roman times. Alexandrine parakeets (a close relative of the ring-neck parakeet) are named after Alexander the Great, who transported these birds from India to Europe.

Diet

Ring-neck parakeets  are herbivorous, feeding on buds, seeds, grains, fruits, vegetation, and nuts.

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Status in The Wild

  • Least Concern

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List status

Ring-neck parakeets range widely throughout Central Africa, India, and neighboring countries.

This parrot is not very picky when it comes to its habitat, inhabiting light secondary forest, riparian woodland, mangroves, savanna grasslands, and deserts. They are often found on farms, in urban and suburban environments, and in parks and gardens.

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Buffalo Weaver

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Buffalo Weaver

(Dinemellia dinemelli)

Seneca Park Zoo is home to two white-headed buffalo weavers. They reside in the aviary, which can be found inside the Animals of the Savanna building.

Animal Facts

Flocks and family groups can sometimes include starlings.
Other bird species, such as the African pygmy falcon, often prefer to use weaver nests instead of building their own.
Weavers typically live in small flocks and build multiple nests, and it is common to see a large number of nests in a single tree.
They are noisy and conspicuous when climbing about in trees and are reminiscent of parrots with their acrobatic maneuvers and habit of hanging upside down.
Nests may have several rooms, with a soft inner lining and thorny branches on the outside to help guard them from predators.

Diet

Buffalo weavers are omnivorous, foraging for fruits, seeds and invertebrates such as beetles and butterflies.

Status in The Wild

  • Least Concern

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List status

The range of buffalo weavers extends throughout eastern Africa, from Tanzania to Somalia.

They prefer savanna and shrubland habitat, using grass and thorny branches to weave elaborate nests in trees. Potential threats for this species are habitat loss and fragmentation.

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Golden-Breasted Starling

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Golden-Breasted Starling

(Cosmopsarus regius)

Seneca Park Zoo is home to one golden-breasted starling. It resides in the aviary inside the Animals of the Savanna building.

Animal Facts

The golden-breasted starling is regarded as the most beautiful bird in the world, spurring large-scale capturing for the pet trade.
Their tail makes up about 60% of the bird’s length.
Golden-breasted starlings are cooperative breeders, which means all group members assist with building nests and feeding young.
Will often nest in old woodpecker holes
Diurnal; don’t migrate; very social and noisy like all starlings

Diet

Though primarily insectivores, golden-breasted starlings may also eat snails, spiders, seeds and fruit.

Status in The Wild

  • Least Concern

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List status

Golden-breasted starlings are found throughout eastern Africa, including Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania.

They prefer arid or semi-arid climates, and are usually found in savannas and shrublands. Although their population trend is stable, they are facing a threat from overcollection for the pet trade.

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Red-Tailed Hawk

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Red-Tailed Hawk

(Buteo jamaicensis)

The Zoo is home to one female red-tailed hawk who came to the Zoo in May 2014. The red-tailed hawk is a medium-sized bird of prey. Its head is distinguished by a hooked beak and supraorbital ridge over the eyes.

Animal Facts

Red-tailed hawks may live about 25 years in captivity.
Red-tailed hawks are monogamous and may mate for life.
These diurnal hawks are primary solitary but will be social during breeding season and during migration.

Diet

Red-tailed hawks feed mostly on small- to medium-sized mammals such as voles, squirrels, rabbits and hares. They rarely take (but have been observed consuming) birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, large insects and carrion.

Status in The Wild

  • Least Concern

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List status

Red-tailed hawks are widespread and the most common hawk throughout North America.

In Alaska and Canada, they migrate to avoid severe winters, with migration peaking in October/November. Habitats vary but include rural and urban areas that contain woods, open country, deserts and mountains.

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Snowy Owl

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Snowy Owl

(Bubo scandiaca)

The Zoo is home to two snowy owls, a female named Winter and a male named Tundra. Winter was hatched in 2011 and came to Seneca Park Zoo in 2012 from the Bramble Park Zoo in Watertown, South Dakota. Deemed non-releasable, she has an amputated right wing tip injury of unknown origin. Tundra was hatched in July 2013 and came from the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, PA. Unlike Winter, Tundra is able to fly. In 2014, he was confiscated by the Pennsylvania Game Commission from a private citizen. Because he was imprinted on humans, he was deemed unable to be re-released.

Animal Facts

Snowy owls are carnivores; they hunt by sitting on an elevated perch that gives them good visibility; visual scanning of their hunting area is made possible by their ability to rotate their head three quarters of the way around.
Snowy owls are generally monogamous for one breeding season at a time, although cases of polygamy for a few seasons have been seen when prey is extremely abundant.
The niche of a snowy owl in their ecosystem is controlling lemming populations. A snowy owl may consume three to five lemmings a day, or approximately 1,600 lemmings in a year!

Diet

Lemmings, mice, rabbits, rodents, waterfowl, other birds and fish.
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Status in The Wild

  • Least Concern

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List status

Snowy owls are found circumpolar, most often in Arctic habitats where they breed including coastal Alaska, Canada, and Greenland.

They can also be found in northern Scandinavia, Russia, southern Novaya Zemlya (a large island off the northern coast of Russia) and northern Siberia. During the winter season, some snowy owls migrate south to more temperate habitats. Snowy owls usually inhabit open tundra during summer months. They also inhabit lowland grasslands (saltwater grass meadows and freshwater wet meadows), especially for hunting.

They are protected, however, under the U.S. Migratory Bird Act and CITES Appendix II. Snowy owls are victims of collisions with vehicles, gunshot wounds, utility line and airplane collisions, electrocutions and entanglement with fishing lines.

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Speckled Mousebird

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Speckled Mousebird

(Colius striatus)

Seneca Park Zoo is the home to speckled mousebirds. Their habitat is inside the Animals of the Savanna building.

Animal Facts

Speckled mousebirds are a highly social species. They forage, preen, and dust-bathe together.
When predators are close, speckled mousebirds crash land into thick bushes and freeze until the danger has passed.
Speckled mousebirds occasionally swallow pebbles to help grind up the vegetation they eat, which aids in digestion.

Diet

Speckled mousebirds are omnivorous, feeding on fruits, leaves, nectar, and occasionally termites and ants.
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Status in The Wild

  • Least Concern

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List status

Speckled mousebirds range widely throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

They prefer forest and savanna habitats but adapt well to other habitats and are often seen in urban areas containing gardens and orchards. Their current population trend is increasing.

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