Bright red bird recaptured by Edinburgh Zoo

A rare bright-red bird which escaped from Edinburgh Zoo last week has been recaptured about four miles away.

Keepers noticed the scarlet ibis was missing on Tuesday and it was later spotted close to the city centre.

The two-year-old female bird was recaptured on Sunday afternoon on the shoreline in the Cramond area and is now recovering in quarantine.

It is believed the bird escaped after a squirrel chewed a hole at the top of its cage.

The ibis has been at the zoo since 2010 and shares her enclosure with the six other members of her flock and 36 resident flamingos.

Colin Oulton, team leader of the bird section at Edinburgh Zoo, said: "It's really quite surprising how far the scarlet ibis flew, eventually ending up at the shore at Cramond.

"Being flock birds, you would expect them to stay quite close to the rest of the flock."

Continued:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-19391284

Bright red bird escapes from Edinburgh Zoo

A rare bird has escaped from Edinburgh Zoo and is on the loose in the city after a squirrel chewed a hole at the top of its cage.

Keepers noticed the scarlet ibis was missing and it was later spotted three miles away in Dundas Street, close to the city centre.

The bird is believed to have escaped through a hole in netting which covers its enclosure.

It is in danger of being attacked by predators because of its bright colour.

Dundas Street

The zoo and animal welfare charity Scottish SPCA are tracking the ibis and say they were close to catching it several times.

Darren McGarry, head of animals at Edinburgh Zoo, said: "Our bird team noticed one of our scarlet ibis was missing from the enclosure this morning and a search of Edinburgh Zoo showed the bird had seemed to have left the site.

Continued:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-19346665

Rare cockatoo still missing from zoo

A red-tailed black cockatoo is still missing from Sydney's Taronga Zoo, two days after it escaped.


Five of the rare birds flew off after they were spooked by sea eagles during an open-air show on Monday afternoon.


Four have been recaptured and keepers are confident the last one will soon be found and rejoin its mates in their enclosure.


A zoo spokesman says the cockatoos were easily recaptured.


'The keepers just go out and give the sign for feeding and they come down,' he said.


The birds were part of a public display at the zoo on Monday afternoon when a group of predatory sea eagles crashed the show.


'They saw them and said, Oh my God, it's an eagle, I'm out of here,'' the spokesman said.


'They just moved away from the threat. They did the right thing. If I thought I was being hunted by sea eagles I'd move areas too.'


He said the first bird was found near the zoo on Tuesday morning and another was spotted near Allambie, in Sydney's northern beaches, later that day.


The two others were caught at nearby Manly on Wednesday after tip-offs from the public.


He said the birds, which are not critically endangered but are under pressure from loss of habitat, regarded the zoo as their home and were happy to be back.


He said the zoo had only ever lost two birds from its popular open-air shows since 1997.


The runaways would rejoin the troupe for upcoming shows, he said.


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