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National Aviary
Rating Details »
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
15 reviews for National Aviary
When my friend Catherine came in to visit me this past weekend, I really wanted to take her to places that are uniquely Pittsburgh. I wanted her to see things she couldn't see in her native Chicago, so I thought we'd spend a Sunday Morning at the Aviary.
We got there when it opened at 9am because we wanted to see the "Feed The Lories" at 9:30am. We each purchased a cup of nectar with which to feed the rainbow lorikeets. They'll eat right out of your nectar cup and besides, the money spent goes towards their upkeep.
What I really wanted to see was the new penguin exhibit. No, NOT Mario Lemiuex or any of the other hockey greats. The new exhibit is called Penguin Point. It's part of a multi-million dollar makeover the Aviary is currently undergoing. Penguin Point gives the viewer a complete 360 view of the penguins in action. No, not slap shots, offsides and goals. I mean waddling, climbing the rocks, and swimming. The current residents have had their numbers increased and the Aviary will soon begin a breeding program. I've upped the Aviary's rating to five stars because of Penguin Point.
As great as the Penguin Point is, don't forget to see the rest of the Aviary too. Birds are very fascinating creatures and you can see aquatic birds, flightless birds, etc. here. This is a unique treasure in Pittsburgh and you owe it to yourself to come here and learn more.
Ps. The website is excellent. It teaches you a lot about bird conservation, bird watching (I always think of the great old movie "Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation:), birds as pets, etc.
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1 Previous Review: Show all »
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10/16/2008
This is one of the more unusual "zoos" out there, and certainly one of the few dedicated solely to… Read more »
This is a wonderful place that unfortunately needs more money than it has to be in world class shape. It's $10 to get in, and it's not large; maybe 10% of the size of the Zoo. Street parking is free, lot parking is $5. It sits in a gorgeous park next to the community college.
Anyways, two phenomenal large walkthrough rooms of birds, plus a dozen or so smaller enclosures that you can't walk into. If you walked from one end to the other, it might take you five minutes, tops. If you're interested and willing to slow down on that walk, there are 500+ birds in there, so there are definitely a lot of animals in this specialty zoo.
The entire middle of the Aviary is currently under construction; they're turning it into the new location for the penguins. With that part closed, $10 felt pretty steep. I liked the toucans, bald eagles, flamingos, parrots, and the entire rainforest room. Then again, the rainforest room felt very similar to Phipps Conservatory, save it has a lot of extra bird poop.
I'm bumping this up to 3-stars, simply because the construction is temporary.
I'm pretty sure the National Aviary is the best place to go look at birds on the East Coast. I'm a little sad that the penguins & giant owl aren't out for display, but you can see one at 10:30 and 1:30 (? - check the website to be sure) each day, at the free-with-admission bird show. Definitely go to the bird show.
Parents, please, hold your child's hand, and don't let him or her chase the birds. That ruins it for all of us; some of my favorite free birds (FREEBIRD!) have had to be locked up because of kids bothering them.
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This is a great location to get up close with a variety of birds in a free flying aviary...the wetlands exhibit is the best...You can also see penguins really close and they are curious about people which is fun. The wetland exhibit allows visitors to hold fish and worms for the birds to come get from you. Cool! If you are in to birding, you will like this place. Only disappointment was some of the smaller cages around the perimeter...one bothered me particularly...Penn. Wildlife, the cage is way too small and crowded the birds have no where to fly. I felt sorry for the female cardinal, titmouse, blue jay, thrush and a few others that were in there...this seemed like cruelty to birds...the birds looked simply miserable. Being that these birds are found in our backyards, this exhibit should be eliminated and the birds set free...or at least these birds deserve more space. Ugh...It was downer for an otherwise fun visit with the birds.
People are right that this place is worth investing for it's purposes, but for visitors, the displays are limited, pretty dull, and need some updating. However, if one has limited time to spend with a child, this is a good place to go; they have live bird feeding shows in the rainforest room that are fun for kids.
I love the idea of this aviary but the execution seems poor. The signs and displays were outdated and not accurate for what was actually there. We spent an hour there and I honestly can't see how you could spend more time than that because this place is pretty small. The wetland and rainforest rooms were really nice, but it was difficult to know what we were looking at because the idenitifcation for the birds was not visible. For the price of $10 per adult I expected more than this. I am not sure if we will be going back.
Engaging, relaxing, very cool.
Yes, this place is small. But I think that allows it to be fairly well run and well maintained. And there are a lot of birds. The more time you take, the more of them you see.
Even if you're not an experienced bird spotter, of course, you still see a lot of birds. They come right up to you in the two big, open environments.
Since this place is open so many days of the year, you can find a not busy time (like, um, Thanksgiving) and really stroll through at a snail's pace, or sit awhile in the big rooms, to watch the cycles of "rain" and how this affects the birds' behaviors. Fascinating.
I saw a great demonstration too, outdoors in the summer.
Bear in mind, kids often don't have the patience or visual acuity to "see" as many birds as adults. So they may get a little bored and restless with just walking through (I've seen it happen, again and again). Maybe plan a trip around a demonstration, or the other interactive stuff the staff does, like feedings. It's more dramatic.
And do you know why they call it the "National" Aviary? Because they want to. That's what I heard, anyway.
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Who knew the National Aviary was in PIttsburgh?? RIght up the street from the Andy Warhol Museum, no less. The aviary is small, but clean and well-organized. The tropical room and demonstrations are interesting. I watched one raptor demonstration; the keeper talked about Rachel Carson (from Pittsburgh!) and DDT. Be still, my environmentalist heart.
Odd: there is a large tombstone-type monument outside the aviary displaying the Ten Commandments. The reason for this was not readily apparent.
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This was a fun day and I'd go again. (Just the fact that there's an aviary is a positive with me -- there should be more of these around! And bigger!! But I digress...) There're plenty of birds to see, and it's a pleasure to have them all around you in the wetlands and rainforest rooms. As others have said, the more time you can take in any given spot, the more enjoyment you'll have; I think you'd see a lot even if you had to whip through for some reason, but slower is definitely better.
The aviary's also located in a pretty park, with a large number of ducks. (The latter is always a good thing in my book!)
The reason I give it a 2 is that I had a lot of problems with the maintenance. The signs identifying birds were so outdated that _many_ of the birds in the rooms were not even posted (per my experience and talking to staff members). There were stored supplies stacked haphazardly in most of the hallways. Most flatscreen televisions and other interactive displays were inoperable. There were numerous completely random informational displays (countries, critters, cultures, fisheries) that didn't have anything to do with anything else in their vicinity (and in some cases didn't seem to have anything to do with anything at the aviary at all). The outdoor exhibits (a garden and cages for an eagle and a condor or two) seemed cluttered and overgrown (and not in a good way). And the roof has many holes in it -- during a rainstorm there were constant downpours/waterfalls/etc. (the most amusing being over the "dry" observation area in the wetlands exhibit) inside the building that didn't seem amusing to humans or birds. I also had some issues with the staff -- about a third were engaging, while the remainder seemed supremely displeased to have to deal with visitors. (While I don't necessarily begrudge them this emotion, I've usually seen a higher percentage of tourist-friendly people at tourist locations.)
I hope they continue to get lots of visitors and donations to improve the facility, because the old place has great potential but I think it's falling into disrepair.
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If this place were cheaper we'd visit all the time. Some of the displays are kind of boring, but there are some great rooms where you can walk right up and chill with the birds. We missed the show because we didn't know it was being held outside and no one informed us when we bought our tickets :/
As a bird lover, of course I had a great time here. Lots to see, and penguin meet-and-greets! Thoroughly enjoyed meeting Elvis, and participating in the guided tour which included feeding the birds a bit. I do think that some of the parrot cages need improvement but overall this was well worth visiting.
I haven't been here since I was a kid, but would love to go back. maybe next time I date a girl with kids LOL.
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Neat aviary. Nice tropical room with some free roaming birds. The fancy blue pigeon seems to like children and walks right up to them. They have some species not typically found in zoos. I share same quibble as previous reviewer and would add that admission seemed a bit high for the size of the place. Good docents, though.
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What wonderful birds on exhibit here. The animals are simply beautiful and it's truly an interesting day. My only complaint is I wish there were more exhibits because it doesn't take long to go through the facility on your own.
Thoroughly enjoyed my first visit here, with the exception of having to endure the Ten Commandments posted all along the walkway. What a shame the Nation's only aviary can't be separated from religion.
The docents are amazing and always ready to help. Looking forward to another visit in a few weeks, once the cold weather really hits.
