Atlanta Zoo flying high with hatchlings

By HOWARD POUSNER

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Tweeting of the old-fashioned kind, not the new media sort, is big right now at Zoo Atlanta, where four bird species have become parents so far this month. The new chicks in town are two kori bustards, at least seven Chilean flamingos, two Gambel’s quail and one Palawan peacock pheasant.

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Zoo Atlanta Just days after a special flight from Washington, D.C., two kori bustard eggs hatched on August 4 and 5.

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Zoo Atlanta Zoo Atlanta has a national reputation for the successful reproduction of Chilean flamingos. Seven flamingo pairs are now actively rearing chicks that hatched in the first week of August.

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“Every animal birth is important to Zoo Atlanta, but to have so many different species born in such a short time frame is every exciting,” Zoo Atlanta President and CEO Dennis Kelly said in a statement.

The kori bustards hatched just days after zoo staff traveled to the National Zoo to retrieve the eggs, as recommended by the Kori Bustard Species Survival Plan. The chicks will eventually be introduced to a Zoo Atlanta resident adult pair for rearing.

Curator of birds James Balance discusses the zoo’s avian baby boom during a 2009 Discovery Talk at 7 tonight. Information: zooatlanta.org.