The new look Simmons Aviary will debut July 23rd at the Omaha Zoo.
The sun is in the sky, and birds are flying high at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium.
The more than 250 birds off exhibit during the renovation of the Lee G. Simmons Aviary are ready to take flight in their revamped, environmentally conscious exhibit, which will reopen to the public at 9 a.m. Friday.
Visitors walking along the exhibit's 375-foot elevated walkway will be stepping on eco-friendly decking made from recycled materials. The cable railings they hold onto were designed to provide a more open view of birds, especially for young children in strollers.
The renovated Simmons Aviary at the Omaha zoo. One of the upgrades is a boardwalk that's made of recycled materials.
Among the upgrades and new educational material is the addition of a flamingo habitat.
A 500-square-foot viewing blind allows a wide view into the pink-feathered bird's habitat. The space also includes a 9,000-gallon mud bottom pond.
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Thirty-four flamingos will stay in the exhibit year-round, and zoo officials hope that the new habitat will encourage breeding among the birds.
The flamingos are likely oblivious to the significance of their new home — the completion of the aviary project marks the end of an era at the zoo.
As Dennis Pate, CEO and executive director of the zoo, explained earlier this month, the aviary was the final project to be completed in the zoo's 11-year master plan.
The zoo has been transformed “into a predominately immersive experience," Pate said Thursday in a press release.
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Details of what’s next for the zoo haven’t been finalized, but speaking broadly, Pate said earlier this month that the Desert Dome Plaza is due for a transformation — same for the old cat complex, which no longer houses large cats.
There’s also the Hubbard Gorilla Valley, which is not far from reopening. That exhibit is being completed outside of the master plan and is set to reopen Aug. 6 with more climbing space and larger living spaces.
Photos: The Henry Doorly Zoo through the years
Tiny, shown here in 1970, was the zoo's only Indian rhino and was valued at $25,000.
Then-zoo Director Dr. Warren Thomas with Tiny the rhino in 1968.Â
Tiny the rhino in 1969.
In this February 1975 photo, zookeeper Mark Gordon holds Tiny still as food is administered. Since Tiny had been unable to eat, zoo workers had to feed him intravenously and pump fluids into him to keep him from dehydrating.
Zookeeper Sarah Davis Junior, left, Dr. Lee Simmons and Dr. Armstrong examine a California sea lion in the zoo hospital at the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo on Dec. 7, 1987.
A wet roar is all 7-year-old Tanya Armstrong got from this lion on Oct. 28, 1972. The lion is a drinking fountain donated to the zoo by the Mutual of Omaha Jaycees. Helping Tanya and her classmates from Fort Crook Elementary School is Rep. John Y. McCollister. At left is zoo Director Lee Simmons.Â
The female gorillas have joined the corps of TV widows. Like a husband intent on football, Casey, patriarch at the Henry Doorly Zoo, studies the sitcoms and soap operas on a tube outside of his cage on Feb. 22, 1980.Â
Lee Simmons' gamble with a poker-playing circus trainer payed off with the birth of two tigers, one a rare white tiger valued at approximately $60,000 in 1980.
At the petting zoo, Mrs. Toam Roach of Fremont appears unaware of the goat nibbling away at her coat on May 6, 1968.
Dr. Lee Simmons shows off one of the zoo's new flamingos on March 26, 1981.
Dr. Lee Simmons shows the new camera system to Bellevue students on May 4, 1973. The camera system, donated by Lew Bailen of Riteway Television, enables zoo personal to monitor newborns and allows the public to view them.Â
Harry Doorly Koch, 3, is the chief groundbreaker at the ceremony for the first phase at the zoo on May 25, 1965. Family members in the background are (left to right) his sister Katherine, his mother, Mrs. Harry A. Koch Jr. and grandmother Mrs. W. Dale Clark.
It was an exchange of sorts on March 24, 1982, as hundreds of Brownies received a tour of the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo and the zoo received a Stanley crane. Brownies from the Great Plains Girl Scout Council donated to the Brownie Zoo Fund to help the zoo buy the South African crane. Zoo Director Dr. Lee Simmons shows members of the Offutt Air Force Base Brownie troop a similar crane already at the zoo. The Offutt troop submitted the winning name, "Choo Choo Crane." This is the fifth year the Brownies have donated an animal.
Zookeeper Marty Stumbaugh applies paint to an elephant on Aug. 20, 1975. Keepers Randy Rockwell, left, and Johnny Martinez, right, watch. The painting technique used by the pachyderm is firm, but not too forceful.
Dr. Lee Simmons at the Henry Doorly Zoo with a 3-year-old camel wearing an orthopedic braced made of plywood, carpeting and bolts on Dec. 16, 1975. Simmons devised the brace to help the camel heal from torn ligaments between two vertebrae, an injury probably suffered by the camel stumbling and landing on her nose.
Guests were picked up in the parking lot and transported to the Zoofari VII Fundraiser at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo on Sept. 11, 1989.
A giant sea fan and coral for the zoo aquarium capture the attention of membership chairmen, from left, John Gottschalk, Mrs. James Quinlan, Mrs. Gary Thompson and Lee Simmons on Feb. 16, 1984.
Between 1,500 and 1,800 people took rides on the Omaha Zoo Railroad on the first day of public operation on July 28, 1968. The train is a model of a Union Pacific engine built in 1867 and scrapped in the early 1900s.
Onlookers watch as penguins walk off the truck to a red carpet welcome at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo on Feb. 17, 1995. Zoo employees herd penguins to enclosure.
The Henry Doorly Zoo's Lied Jungle and Desert Dome are seen from above with Rosenblatt Stadium nearby on Nov. 27, 2000.
Jennifer Giessinger hand-feeds treats to a silvery-cheeked hornbill in 2008. The bird was losing its eyesight and had to be hand-fed.
Eugene Mahoney and Dr. Lee Simmons at the Lied Jungle at the Henry Doorly Zoo in 1992.
Dr. Lee Simmons and workers unloading a crate holding one of the new tigers brought into the Omaha zoo for the white tiger breeding program in August 1978.
Lee Simmons III, 9, and an unnamed baby gorilla console each other during a bout of chicken pox in 1971. The baby gorilla was kept at Henry Doorly Zoo Director Lee Simmons' home after coming down with the childhood disease. Lee's children both had it, too.
Zoo visitors look on and take photographs as three elephants roam their outdoor living area in the African Grasslands exhibit at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo on May 18, 2016.
Elephants make their public debut at the Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium on April 6, 2016.
Elephants make their public debut at the Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium on April 6, 2016.
