Aviary Closure
The Houston Zoo is committed to the health and safety of the animals in our care and has been monitoring the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), which can cause severe illness and death in many bird species. At this time, our walk-through aviary inside of Birds of the World will remain closed until the risk to our animals subsides.
About the Exhibit
Our newest exhibit, Birds of the World, is now open, and features three spacious aviaries, highlighting birds from the following regions:
- The African Savanna aviary highlights majestic, grey crowned cranes, vultures, hamerkops, and more.
- The North American Woodlands exhibit features a variety of American songbirds including blue grosbeaks and indigo buntings, helping connect visitors to the beautiful birds in their own backyard.
- The South American Wetlands habitat is an immersive aviary, giving guests the chance to walk among spectacular variety of South American birds including a perennial favorite, Chilean flamingos.
This exhibit is included with general admission and is free for members.
As a Zoo member, you can get extra general admission tickets not covered by your membership at a discounted price when you log in to the Member Portal.
Saving Birds in the Wild
Birds from all over the world travel through Houston during their migration. Houston is on an international route for migrating birds. A billion birds fly through our night skies each migration season. Bright lights can cause confusion and collision with windows. One small way to help keep migrating birds safe is to turn out lights from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. during bird migration season.
Houston Zoo helps save birds locally and internationally. Native birds are protected by law, and when rescued from the illegal pet trade, they need a safe place to stay. The Houston Zoo partners with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to house these birds. The Zoo also cares for birds that have been injured and cannot be returned to the wild. At the Zoo, each cup of coffee helps protect wild birds by serving bird-friendly coffee. Bird Friendly® certified coffee is grown in a way to preserve the habitats of birds and other animals in South America and beyond.
Abroad, in Rwanda, cranes are kept inappropriately as pets, causing wild flocks to decline. Houston Zoo’s conservation partners encourage the return of these birds for rehabilitation and rewilding. With the Zoo’s support, hundreds of cranes have been restored to the wild. A portion of each Zoo membership and ticket helps support the Zoo’s bird-saving initiatives.
Birds to See Here
How We Help Save Birds
The Upper Texas Coast (including Houston) is an important part of the Central Flyway, which is a pathway used by many migratory bird species in North America. Most of these migratory birds fly at night, and as a result, can become disoriented by lights on homes and buildings, sometimes leading to fatal collisions.
The Houston Zoo participates in turning lights out for birds from 11:00 p.m. – 6:00 a.m. and encourages our community to do the same, especially during spring and fall migration.
Spring Migration Dates
- Full Spring Migration Period: March 1 – June 15
- Critical Spring Peak Migration Period: April 19 – May 7
Fall Migration Dates
- Full Fall Migration Period: August 15 – November 30
- Critical Fall Peak Migration Period: September 5 – October 29
SPLASh, which stands for Stopping Plastics and Litter Along Shoreline, was created with the goal of addressing the persistent litter pollution that affects the shores of the Houston-Galveston region.
The Galveston-Houston region is home or stopover for more than 500 species of birds. These magnificent birds rely heavily on this area’s bountiful resources and habitat. Unfortunately, litter pollution, such as fishing lines, plastic, and discarded nets, can have a negative impact on the bird’s overall health. SPLASh endeavors to combat these pollutants through regular litter cleanups and educational outreach activities. SPLASh’s meaningful work helps to create a cleaner environment for people, birds, and other wildlife.
Houston Zoo’s Saving Wildlife School Partnerships Program began partnering with SPLASh for beach, bayou, and bay cleanups in 2023. This partnership has since spread to include Houston Zoo staff, volunteers, donors, Zoo Crew Teens, and Camp Zoofari participants. Together, Houston Zoo and SPLASh picked up more than 1,149 pounds of trash from shorelines during the summer of 2024.
The Zoo has provided strategic guidance, veterinary expertise, and support for conservation partners, Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association (RWCA) for many years. RWCA is a Rwandan-run organization that provides a holistic, multi-disciplinary approach to critical conservation issues to create sustainable solutions for Rwandan wildlife and people. They protect wildlife and natural habitats, engage and educate local communities, improve livelihoods, raise awareness of conservation issues, build the capacity of young Rwandese veterinarians and conservationists, and disseminate high quality research.
RWCA uses a holistic and multi-disciplinary approach to reverse the declining trend of the endangered grey crowned cranes in Rwanda, with a focus on stopping the illegal trade. Over the past several years, the Zoo has assisted RWCA with increasing the wild grey crowned crane population and eliminating the demand for this crane species as pets in Rwanda.
To date, over 240 cranes have been removed from captive situations in Rwanda, of which more than half have been successfully rehabilitated and released back into the wild. From 2017 to 2020 the wild population of grey crowned cranes increased from 487 to 881!
The Houston Zoo is helping to save African vultures in the wild by supporting conservation work conducted by staff at the North Carolina Zoo. The primary threat to vultures in Africa is poisoning – often from livestock carcasses poisoned by people attempting to kill lions or hyenas.
The North Carolina Zoo has been working with white-backed, hooded, and white-headed vultures in southern Tanzania since 2013 to reduce instances of poisoning using a multi-faceted approach that includes:
- Monitoring vulture population abundance over time
- Using satellite telemetry to discover poisoning events
- Training rangers in rapid response protocols for poisoning events
- Monitoring lead levels in tagged vultures
- Building partnerships to improve collaboration on coordinated conservation strategies
Keeping Our World Wild Centennial Campaign
The Houston Zoo announced its Keeping Our World Wild Centennial Capital campaign in 2018, in celebration of its 100-year anniversary in 2022. With the funds raised from the campaign, the Zoo has opened the Hamill Foundation Black Bear Exhibit (2018), Cypress Circle Café (2018), a renovated orangutan exhibit (2019), and award-winning exhibits Kathrine G. McGovern Texas Wetlands (2019), South America’s Pantanal (2020), and Galápagos Islands (2023). The final animal exhibit of the campaign, Birds of the World, will open August 30, 2024.
KPRC Special: "Saving Wildlife: Return to Rwanda"
Earlier this year, our Houston Zoo team traveled with our friends at KPRC-2 to visit our wildlife-saving partners, including Dr. Olivier Nsengimana who works to save the grey crowned crane and founded the Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association. We also trekked with Gorilla Doctors to see mountain gorillas in the wild! Stay tuned for KPRC-2’s upcoming special airing around Labor Day weekend.
