Canary’s Call

Canary’s Call Presented by Dollar Bank

Canary’s Call is an indoor immersive, museum-style habitat with interpretive displays that bring to life the stories that birds, as an indicator species, are telling.

Canaries As Bioindicators

Birds have long been indicators of the health of our natural environment, going back to when miners sent canaries into coal mines to warn of dangerous fumes. Through words, images, and interactive elements, birds tell the stories of the impacts of pollution, invasive species, overconsumption, and habitat loss on entire ecosystems around the globe. Today, wild birds serve as reliable indicators of many other environmental problems. By paying close attention to our wild bird populations everywhere, we can safeguard their populations and, at the same time, protect human health and well-being.

National Aviary Conservation Efforts

Visitors to Canary’s Call can learn through these stories how they can be good stewards of our planet for all who share it.

Canary perched on a branch
Island Canary
Malayan Flying Foxes hanging upside down from a branch
Malayan Flying Foxes

Canary’s Call Residents

Canary’s Call is home to the lively Rainbow Lorikeet habitat, where a vibrant flock of lorikeets and perch and chatter. Around the corner, find a pair of Extinct-in-the-Wild Guam Kingfishers (known locally as Sihek). This pair is part of the Sihek Recovery Project, and future hatchlings may eventually make their way into the wild! Adorable Burrowing Owls also reside in a desert-inspired habitat, generously sponsored by Duolingo.

Opened in 2019, the Andean Mountain habitat in Canary’s Call is home to striking and unusual birds from Latin America, never before seen in Pittsburgh, like the neon orange Andean Cock-of-the-rock, a forest-dwelling bird with a showy fan-shaped crest.

Another flying creature can be found in Canary’s Call? A colony of Malayan Flying Foxes, a megabat species native to Southeast Asia! These large fruit-eating bats have a nearly five-foot wingspan, revealing surprisingly cute faces when they stretch their wings.

Support Rainbow Lorikeets with a symbolic adoption! The Adopt-A-Bird program makes a great gift and helps us care for our flock!

Thank You to Our Canary’s Call Sponsor:

2024 Dollar Bank Logo

Thank You to Our Burrowing Owl Habitat Sponsor:

Duolingo logo

In The News

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Katie joined us from the National Aviary in Pittsburgh to show us a global odyssey that has turned Pittsburgh into a first-class ticket to the wildest corners of the world.

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Spend a peaceful moment with the delicate birds in the Grasslands at the National Aviary.

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Three peregrine falcon chicks from the Cathedral of Learning were banded by the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

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3 Cathedral of Learning peregrine falcon chicks receive bands from Pennsylvania Game Commission | WPXI

Carla and Ecco, two peregrine falcons, live at the Cathedral of Learning in Oakland and are the stars of the National Aviary’s Peregrine FalconCam.

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Bird experts encourage people to turn off lights in peak migration season | WPXI

The National Aviary and other bird experts are encouraging everyone to turn off or dim unnecessary lights at night. — The National Aviary and other bird experts are encouraging everyone to turn off or dim unnecessary lights at night.

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