Tropical bird escapes exhibit at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo
Jun 26, 2019, 6:32 AM | Updated: 8:06 am
If you spot a bird like the one pictured here, please contact the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle ASAP. (Photo courtesy Woodland Park Zoo)
(Photo courtesy Woodland Park Zoo)
Like the opening scene of a DreamWorks movie, a tropical bird has escaped from its exhibit at the Woodland Park Zoo.
A small Paradise Tanager, whose wild relatives live in the Amazon basin of South America, flew out of the Tropical Rain Forest Aviary. The zoo says it likely slipped through a door left open by a visitor for too long while exiting.
The zoo crew hasn’t been to able to locate the little flyer, but appreciates extra eyes in the community. If you think you’ve spotted the tanager, please email the zoo at zooinfo@zoo.org.
According to the zoo and The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Paradise Tanagers have a black body and beak. Their faces are a lime green color. They have a bright blue chest and a red and yellow rump.
Native Paradise Tanagers spend their time in the upper canopy foraging for fruit and insects and nest in the outer edges of the canopy, according to the C.L.O.
If you’re determined to find the zoo’s escape artist, dawn might be your best bet. The Paradise Tanager has a dawn song, which is a repeated chak-zeet every two seconds, according to the C.L.O. Listen here. Three normal calls are a sharp chak, a zeee, and a sizit.
