Behind the scenes with our golden-breasted starlings

Did you know that there are birds who live behind the scenes at Zoo Atlanta? Well, now you do! Zoo Atlanta has a building that can house numerous birds behind-the-scenes for a variety of reasons. This building is called “Prop” by our Bird Team, and it’s short for the Avian Propagation Center.

The busiest time of year for Prop is during the winter, when the temperatures get too cold for the bird species typically housed throughout the Zoo for guests to view. Each species has its own temperature guidelines Zoo Atlanta follows, and some need easier access to heated areas during the winter months. The bird species that have a harder time withstanding the freezing temperatures are moved to Prop and temporarily live off habitat and out of view of guests. Other birds that stay at Prop temporarily and for shorter periods of time throughout the year are ones that may require medical attention and need specific care in an easily accessible space, birds that need some quiet and privacy away from guests to breed and raise offspring, and others that are preparing to head out to new homes at other institutions.

There is one bird species housed only at Prop and are not on habitat for guest view: the golden-breasted starling. Golden-breasted starlings (GBS for short) are medium-sized, gorgeously colored, bright yellow, iridescent blue, purple, and green passerines native to Africa. This species can be more susceptible than others to certain types of parasites. Fortunately, our Bird Team is especially experienced with the care and breeding of these birds. While the species is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, assurance populations within zoos and aquariums are incredibly important for preventing the extinction of species, as well as supporting the species’ reintroduction to the wild in case the species’ population does start declining. Keeping an abundant, healthy, and diverse population of golden-breasted starlings in zoos and aquariums is important for this reason, and Zoo Atlanta’s Bird Team has had success in breeding this species for years.

In the last couple of years, I have taken over the care of Prop and the birds within it and subsequently, among plenty of other duties, I am responsible for facilitating a successful breeding season for our golden-breasted starlings! Their breeding season typically ranges from March to August. This past spring we introduced a new female, Jolene, to a long-time resident male, Miller, with the intentions of eventually setting the two up to breed. The two got along with no issues, so we decided to go ahead and give them some nesting material, including pine straw, sphagnum moss, and feathers, put up a couple nest boxes, and added the twice a week nest checks on the calendars. Despite providing these things for the birds to utilize to breed, we didn’t have high expectations for the two since not only were they a new pair, but Jolene had never bred and reared chicks before.

To our surprise, the pair started building with sphagnum moss immediately, especially Miller! We almost couldn’t give him enough he was using so much, so quickly. On the first nest check a couple days later, the nest box was already halfway full of sphagnum moss. A few weeks later, the nest box was so full of sphagnum moss and feathers that we could barely see the top of the nest box. Eventually, the nest building slowed down, and we began to expect eggs. However, weeks and weeks went by with no eggs in sight, and I started to lose hope for them to breed this season. That was, until the first week in July. Lo and behold, there was an egg. And by the next nest check, there were three … And they were all fertile! Golden-breasted starling incubation periods range from 11 to 18 days, and the chicks fledge from the nest 18 to 25 days after hatching. We still have a lot of checkpoints to cross before we can let go of our breath and celebrate golden-breasted starling chicks, but these steps have already been huge successes for the new pair, and the Bird Team is beyond excited.

Madelyn M.
Bird Team