Aviary penguins ready to make move

Elvis
Keith Hodan/Tribune-Review



Erin Estell
Keith Hodan/Tribune-Review


New digs
Keith Hodan/Tribune-Review




























Aviary penguins ready to make move
Buzz up!
By Michael Machosky, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, May 17, 2009

Erin Estell
Keith Hodan/Tribune-Review
Penguins vs. penguins

Hockey fans may have noticed a few similarities between Pittsburgh's two favorite groups of penguins. Most of the Aviary's African penguins have hockey-related names -- Patrick, for the old Patrick Division; Stanley, for the Stanley Cup; Sidney for Sidney Crosby; and even Elvis, for Pens announcer Mike Lange's catchphrase "Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has just left the building."

Only Simon — named for his previous home, Simontown in South Africa — has no hockey name.

"We do have a Mario (named for Pens owner Mario Lemieux) coming in," Erin Estell says. "We're really excited about having him. We'll probably have a naming contest (for the others) at some point."

A certain crew of penguins from Pittsburgh would like to invite you to visit their spacious new home on the North Side, when they move in this month.

What -- you think Sid, Fleury, Geno & Co. are the only penguins in town?

Patrick, Simon, Stanley, Sidney, Elvis and at least six new friends are moving in to their new digs, Penguin Point, on Saturday, the culmination of the National Aviary's $1.7 million project to build a more interactive, public-friendly home for their ever-popular flightless waterfowl.

"They're our most popular attraction," says Patrick Mangus, executive director of the National Aviary. "The first thing people say when they come here is, 'Where are the penguins?' "

Previously, the penguins only came out a few times a day for special shows. That wil change when Penguin Point opens, giving the penguins a permanent home that the public can see up close -- very close. Visitors will be able to crawl underneath the exhibit, and peep through domed bubbles into the penguins' pool and rock-walled enclosure.

"You'll be nose-to-beak with the penguins," says Erin Estell, manager of community outreach and education at the Aviary.

There will be small cave-like cubbyholes for nesting penguins, and video cameras linked to displays -- and the Aviary Web site -- to watch baby penguins hatch, feed and grow.

The exhibit will be open to the elements, and visitors will be able to observe from vantage points indoors and outside. All the penguins at the Aviary are African penguins, who, unlike their Antarctic relations, don't mind a temperate climate.

Of course, penguins frolicking in the pool figures to be the main attraction. Penguins may seem to waddle awkwardly on land, but their torpedo-shaped bodies are perfectly suited for the water. They can swim at speeds as fast as 25 miles per hour.

"Penguin Point" also attempts to explain the many ecological pressures that penguins face, particularly to their food supply -- which also happens to be our food supply.

"One of the things we want to teach people is to eat fish that are fished sustainably -- not fish that are the food sources for penguins," Estell says. "If we take away one species of fish, it affects dozens of others.

"That's something right here in Pittsburgh that we can do to help the penguins."

The exhibit is just one part of a $26 million project to transform the Aviary over the next several years.

"It's part of a long-term project to expand and make the Aviary more user-friendly," Mangus says. "This is a facility built in 1952, and has had only modest upgrades since then. It will better deliver our messages of conservation and appreciation or nature."

New additions will eventually include the Helen M. Schmidt FliteZone Theater, a new entrance, expanded offices, a rooftop theater for raptor demonstrations, classrooms, a cafe, expanded gift shop and new interactive bird exhibits.

Each upgrade will begin when fundraising permits. The permanent fundraising campaign is the new reality for nonprofits, Mangus says.

Those who grew up in Pittsburgh may assume that most cities have an aviary, but there are actually very few -- and almost all exist as an attachment to a zoo.

"We have to recognize that people in Pittsburgh take their institutions for granted," Mangus says. "It's really incumbent upon us as an organization to keep it fresh, keep it new. People only have so much time and money, and we have to earn their patronage."

Penguin food

It's one thing to state that penguins' food supplies worldwide are threatened by overfishing. Penguin Point attempts to go the extra mile to explain the problem of unsustainable fishing, and tell visitors how they can help -- by not eating the most threatened species of fish.

Luckily for seafood aficionados, there is a long list of fish that are harvested in a much more sustainable manner:

Avoid

Chilean Seabass/Toothfish

Cod: Atlantic

Crab: King (imported)

Flounders, Soles (Atlantic)

Groupers

Halibut: Atlantic

Lobster: Spiny (Caribbean imported)

Mahi mahi/Dolphinfish (imported)

Monkfish

Orange Roughy

Rockfish (Pacific)

Salmon (farmed, including Atlantic)

Scallops: Sea (Mid-Atlantic)

Sharks

Shrimp (imported farmed or wild)

Snapper: Red

Sturgeon, Caviar (imported wild)

Swordfish (imported)

Tuna: Albacore, Bigeye, Yellowfin (longline)

Tuna: Bluefin

Best Choices

Arctic Char (farmed)

Barramundi (U.S. farmed)

Catfish (U.S. farmed)

Cod: Pacific (Alaska longline)

Crab: Dungeness, Stone

Halibut: Pacific

Herring: Atlantic/Sardines

Lobster: Spiny (U.S.)

Mussels (farmed)

Oysters (farmed)

Pollock (Alaska wild)

Salmon (Alaska wild)

Scallops: Bay (farmed)

Striped Bass (farmed or wild)

Sturgeon, Caviar (farmed)

Tilapia (U.S. farmed)

Trout: Rainbow (farmed)

Tuna: Albacore (U.S., British Columbia troll/pole caught)

Tuna: Skipjack (troll/pole caught)

Source:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/ae/museums/s_625035.html