LOVE HORNBILLS DAY 2023

February 13, 2023

We 💛 hornbills!

Meet some of the hornbills who call the Phoenix Zoo home!

11-year-old Diego and five-year-old Minnie have taken their place in the rhinoceros hornbill habitat on the Children’s Trail. They are a freshly introduced breeding pair and are along great!

24-year-old Sylvester’s new mate 21-year-old Barbara Grace arrived recently arrived from Santa Barbara. Once Barbara Grace is out of the quarantine period, she and Sylvester will be introduced off exhibit. After the two to three week introduction period is over, they will be on display at Tropical Flights!

While we’re excited to welcome some new hornbill faces to the Phoenix Zoo, we’re sad to see others leave.

One-and-a-half-year-old wrinkled hornbill Tubac will be moving to Moody Gardens this spring. And, rhinoceros hornbills Nash and Phoenix will be leaving

on breeding recommendations.

Flying Gardeners project

We’re proud to announce the project, “Flying Gardeners,” received funding from the Disney Conservation Fund!

During the global pandemic, senior bird keeper Marisa Boyd was not able to travel to Malaysia to work with local organizations, Gaia and HUTAN. Instead, she diligently worked with the team over Zoom to help draft the grant in 2022 – and her efforts certainly paid off. The project focuses on protecting 10 hornbill and two flying fox species within the Kenyir watershed in Terengganu. In conjunction with the “Kenyir for Life” initiative, the project aims to empower local and indigenous people to participate in conservation and education efforts in the region.

Marisa is excited to return to Malaysia in 2023 to resume her work and is looking forward to collaborating with new partners, Nature Based Solutions and

Project Pteropus on this project.