Cage & Aviary Birds January 21, 2026

PENGUINS SEA LIFE LONDON Aquarium is now considering the future of its 15 gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) after a public campaign called for the birds to be relocated to “a more suitable facility”. Led by Labour MP for Hemel Hempstead, David Taylor, the campaign has prompted the aquarium – owned by Merlin Entertainments – to hold a two-day meeting to explore and discuss a range of perspectives and options. Back in November 2025, Mr Taylor, along with a group of MPs wrote a letter to Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Emma Reynolds for help with their concerns. A petition by campaign group Freedom For Animals calling for the penguins to be moved into a better facility has received more than 37,000 signatures. In response, the aquarium released a statement…

OWLS A NEWLY PUBLISHED review has put to bed a 200-year-old taxonomic mystery. The southern spectacled owl, long considered a subspecies of spectacled owl, is now recognised as a distinct species. Spectacled owl (Pulsatrix perspicillata) is a large, nocturnal forest raptor found from southern Mexico through much of tropical South America. Its pulsatrix subspecies differs in plumage and vocalisations from other populations of the widespread species. The southern spectacled owl was originally described almost 200 years ago, but conflicting interpretations of morphology and limited comparative data left its position unresolved. Ornithologists recently revisited this question, combining genetic analyses, detailed comparisons of plumage and measurements and an evaluation of vocalisations across the group's range. The study – Museomics resolves 200 years of taxonomic uncertainty: Strix pulsatrix Wied, 1820 (Strigiformes, Strigidae) is…

RECORD-BREAKING YEAR FOR CHESTER ZOO NEW FIGURES FROM the zoo show that 2,136,224 people visited in 2025, breaking all previous attendance records since the site opened to the public in 1931. Two major developments were launched last year: the Heart of Africa habitat, which is home to 57 highly threatened African species, and The Reserve, a hotel with 51 luxury lodges right where the animal and birdlife is. Conservation success also came in 2025 with eight Socorro dove chicks, a bird declared extinct in the wild in the 1970s. RSPB INCREASES REWARD FOR EAGLE INFO TO £20K THE RSPB ARE now offering £20,000 for information that leads to a conviction after the suspicious disappearance of three white-tailed eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla). A previous reward of £10,000 was offered in December 2025…

ZOOS & BIRDPARKS EARLIER THIS MONTH, two zoos completed their “annual stocktake” accounting for every mammal, bird, fish and invertebrate in their care. Whipsnade Zoo Whipsnade – the UK's largest zoo and part of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) – has more than 245 species of animals and birds. 2025 was a big year for births at the zoo, adding to global conservation breeding programmes. This includes a newborn southern white rhino calf, two reticulated giraffe calves, a red panda cub and a domestic Bactrian camel. The tally also reflects important animal moves to different zoos across the UK and abroad as part of international conservation projects. The zoo transported boxer pupfish and eggs to Vienna Zoo as recent surveys have shown that the boxer pufferfish is likely Extinct-in-the-Wild.…

CRIME COVERT FILMING BY the RSPB has caught the brutal killing of a buzzard by a gamekeeper in Yorkshire. The incident happened on March 20, 2024, in woodland near Hovingham, North Yorkshire. The harrowing footage, which can be viewed on the RSPB website, shows the buzzard trapped for four hours in the crow cage trap before a masked and hooded individual approaches. He is seen repeatedly striking the protected buzzard with a stick. It is then removed from the cage, injured and incapacitated but still alive and beaten several more times. Finally, it is thrown by the wing into the vehicle before driving away. “More than half of all confirmed persecution incidents recorded from 2009-2023 were linked to gamebird shooting - James Robinson, RSPB COO By sharing the footage of the…

ASI SIT here writing this on New Year's Day, it is the time of year for reflection. I have just fed the birds their morning softfood and ringed my 201st chick, so it's another good start to the breeding season. 2025 must go down as the most successful year to date in my 47 years of birdkeeping. I bred 253 colour budgerigars last year, won 31 challenge certificates, four BS best in show certificates and four CBS best-in-show awards. Not bad since I have only been keeping colour budgerigars since 2020. That success was mirrored with the number of fellow exhibitors wanting to purchase stock from me throughout the year following each show, so much so that I had few surplus birds going into this breeding season. I tend to…