New Dual Habitat Aviary

Everyone who visits Space Farms Zoo and Museum has heard these familiar words; “Hello”, “Hey Mom”, and “I love you”. Not from the visiting children or staff but from the exotic parrots that call Space Farms Zoo home. “Get over here”, “Whatjadoin?”, “Cracker”, “Pretty Bird” and other phrases also float through the fresh country air at the zoo. The colorful exotic parrots, their vocabulary and antics demand attention from zoo visitors.

After consulting with numerous other zoos with combined specie aviaries, the Spaces designed a Dual Habitat Aviary. Six exotic parrots were introduced to each other and the new, more spacious enclosure this spring. “We had to be creative with the area we used,” says Fred Space, “Weather can still be rather chilly until June, and these are warm weather birds.” The Dual Habitat Aviary was constructed in two parts. The inside section is housed in the west side of the Toy Museum. The inside flight area is sixteen feet long by six feet wide by eight feet tall. Criss-crossed with hard wood oak branches, the area enables the large birds to spread their wide wings. Climbing, chewing, stretching, and flying are essential exercises for the parrots. The inside aviary is heated for these exotic warm weather birds. The outside section of the new aviary is larger yet, twenty feet long, twelve feet wide and ten feet tall. It also features a sunning area and a grassy expanse below more hardwood locust and oak branches for perching.

Fred Space came up with a unique concept which uses Native American Mortar Stones for the bathing bird beauties. “The Mortar Stones were collected by my Dad, Ralph, and stored under hedges by Mom’s house,” stated Fred. “By using these stones as water receptacles they will now be on exhibit where people can see them.”
The Dual Habitat Aviary is connected by a portal through an existing window. As the weather warms up the portal will be opened to allow the half dozen parrots free access to the sunny outside section.

“The parrots are amazing,” says Lori Space Day, the birds’s curator. “Each one has it’s own personality”. Inca is a Military Macaw and at eight years old is the baby of the aviary. Inca came to Space Farms as a four month old baby, donated by a young couple that decided Inca was more work than they anticipated. A Green Wing Macaw, named Rhett, (because he is not Scarlet) flew into the Stokes State Park area during Hurricane Ivan. He found a home at Space Farms Zoo after no one could/would claim him.

Macaws are native to south America, Central America and parts of Mexico. They range in size from twelve inches long to three and a half feet. Coloration is remarkable, brilliant shimmering greens, fluorescent yellows, blood reds, deep blues and even dark purple feathers may adorn a macaw. The color of the feathers varies by genus of macaw, not sex. Most parrots are not sexually dimorphic, you can not tell what sex they are by the outside of the bird. The large beaks of these nut cracking birds can be dangerous and have been known to break a broomstick. A double yellow head Amazon Parrot is the smallest bird in the aviary and he joined the Space Farms Zoo collection last fall. “His name is Meanie and that just about says it all!” states Day. He has not said a word but Amazon parrots are said to be good talkers.

Space Farms Aviary is also home to three Moluccan Salmon Crested Cockatoos. These birds are native to the Moluccan Islands in Indonesia and migrate to other islands. Pale white feathers with a hint of peachy color cover their squat bodies. The Salmon colored head crest is what gives this type of parrot it’s distinct plumage. When the crests are extended due to excitement, the deep salmon color of the feathers fans out over the head, as they bob and weave in dance. Angie is a great older bird, very friendly and loves to whistle, sing and dance. Grumpy and Mrs. Sweetie are a mated pair donated to Space Farms by a neighbor. Space Farms has not actively bred parrots - but who knows… moonlit nights and fresh country air….!

Antique Grand Central Station Eagle “Found” At Space Farms

A retired railroad supervisor has been on a quest for 15 years. His quest: to find a special flock of eagles. These were not live birds, but large, two ton, cast iron sculptured eagles that previously perched atop New York City’s Grand Central Station from 1898 to 1910. In 1910 the original building was raised and the eagles ‘flew the coop’. No one is sure how many eagle statues there were, archival photos reveal 10 or possibly 11 eagles in total. The sculptor is unknown, as is the foundry. Each eagle has a fourteen foot wingspan, weighs two tons and stands twelve feet tall on a six foot in diameter globe. The massive eagle statues had been scattered across the New York / New Jersey area, coming to roost in back gardens of private estates.

Nine of the cast iron flock were found by David Mc Lane, a New York Daily News photographer. After Mc Lane’s death in 1986, David Morrison, a former railroad supervisor and former president of the Long Island Railroad Historical Society, took up the quest.

The vanished statues have been found over the past 45 years of searching. One big bird is located on the grounds of the former Mary Immaculate Friary, now the Capuchin Seminary at Garrison, N.Y., overlooking the Hudson River. Two eagles are at St. Basils Academy in Cold Spring, N.Y.. An additional two from the original flock are located at the Vanderbuilt Museum in Centerport Long Island. Nestled amongst the azaleas, one eagle snuggles down in Bronxville, N.Y. at a private residence. Overlooking the Long Island Sound is a Kings Point eagle, again on a private estate, but visible by boat. One eagle landed in North Tarrytown, N.Y. shortly after 1910. Two eagles were placed in Mt. Vernon, N.Y. on a private estate. The property was subdivided, one eagle residing at 110 Villa Street. This eagle was purchased by Mc Lane, restored and donated to the town of Shandaken, N.Y.. The eagle previously residing at 112 Villa Street remained missing….

A visitor to Space Farms Zoo and Museum mentioned a large sculptured eagle to his friend, David Morrison. David Morrison contacted Space Farms to confirm the existence and the elusive eagle’s heritage. The last eagle to be found landed, appropriately, at a zoo! Dave Morrison believes the eagle so proudly displayed at Space Farms is the 112 Villa Street Eagle from Mt. Vernon, N.Y..

Ralph Space, founder of Space Farms, owned and operated two mink ranches, one in Beemerville, N.J., the other in Middleburg, N.Y. At that time in Ralph’s life, (1960’s and 70’s), he had started to amass antiques for his visionary museum. Ralph had attended many auctions in the tri state area. When Ralph passed away in the 1986, he left no written record of the Grand Central Station Eagle and it’s mysterious travels. Fred Space, Ralph’s son, remembers the eagle arriving at Space Farms in pieces, being stored for a few years in an old barn.

The Space Family reconstructed the majestic bird with an outspread wingspan atop a specially designed garden overlooking the zoo. The masonry supporting the garden has antique mill stones from the local area embedded amongst native field stones. Finished in the late seventies, Ralph was proud of his prize eagle. Ralph had been erroneously informed that the statue was the last one in existence, the others smelted during World War II.

The Space Family was delighted to find their Grand Central Station Eagle had a rich, colorful history. Many thanks are extended to David Morrison for his information and research on the Grand Central Station Eagles. The “Lost Eagle” had found a nest 30 years before at Space Farms Zoo and Museum.