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. The Capuchinbird takes its name from the hooded cloak of a Capuchin monk: the bird’s head is featherless! A flash of neon orange can only be an 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:

Dollar Bank Logo

Thank You to Our Burrowing Owl Habitat Sponsor:

Duolingo logo

In The News

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Guam kingfishers hatched at National Aviary among first released into wild in nearly 40 years | CBS News

Three Guam kingfishers that hatched at the National Aviary have been released on an island in the Pacific, marking the first time their species has been in the wild in nearly 40 years.

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Guam Sihek Released to the Wild | National Aviary

Nine Guam Kingfishers have been released to the wild on Palmyra Atoll, making them the first of their kind to reside in the wild since the 1980s.  

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Take an Enchanting Journey through Forests this fall at the National Aviary! | National Aviary

Explore the Aviary’s new fall seasonal theme, Forests Presented by Peoples; learn more about the creatures who inhabit these woodland areas during TWO new daily activities, and say “hello again!” to the adorable Eurasian Eagle-Owl making her Animal Ambassador debut!

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  Extinct in the Wild birds head to new home ahead of first wild release | National Aviary

Precious Guam Kingfishers arrived on the Pacific Island as part of a project to re-establish a wild population 

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National Aviary works to bring back bird that’s extinct in the wild | CBS News

The National Aviary may be based in Pittsburgh but the important work they do spans the globe - playing an instrumental part in saving a bird that's been extinct in the wild for 40 years.

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