Catalina Bird Park, or Wrigley Bird Park, was a 20th-century collection of exotic birds and game fowl kept on
Santa Catalina Island, California
Santa Catalina Island ( xgf, Pimuu'nga or ; es, Isla Santa Catalina) is a rocky island off the coast of Southern California in the Gulf of Santa Catalina. The island name is often shortened to Catalina Island or just Catalina. The island is l ...
, United States, under the sponsorship of the island's owner
William Wrigley Jr. The Bird Park was located in Avalon Canyon along the
Avalon municipal boundary.
History
The Bird Park opened in approximately 1926.
The Bird Park was meant to be an enticement to visit the island generally and did not produce any revenue.
The steel girders from the original dance hall—the one that was replaced by the
Catalina Casino—were reused in the construction of the Bird Park aviary in 1928.
The resulting cage was in diameter and high.
Former President and Mrs.
Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer ...
paid a visit in 1930. Circa 1931, the aviary was open to tourists, admission was free, and there were more than 5,000 individual birds in the collection. Circa 1934,
''Out West'' magazine reported that
golden and
ring-neck pheasants that had "been liberated" from the Bird Park were adapting well to canyons of the island.
The first supervisor of the aviary, which had a breeding program, was
Edward Herbert Lewis.
Lewis also designed the park, supervised construction, selected the exhibits, and trained the talking
mynahs. Les Mobley was superintendent in 1951 when the bird park successfully hatched and displayed three baby
emus. The
Catalina macaw
The Catalina macaw, sometimes known as the rainbow macaw is a first generation hybrid between the blue-and-gold macaw and scarlet macaw. As catalina macaws are hybrids, they do not have a true scientific name. The best way to represent these bir ...
, a
hybrid macaw which takes its name from the park and is now popular as a pet was first bred in captivity at Catalina Bird Park in 1940. When the Catalina Bird Park aviary closed in 1966, the newly established
Los Angeles Zoo purchased the remaining 650 birds for .
The physical plant was described as being Moorish styled in design and spread over .
The Bird Park was decorated with
Catalina art tiles including several "bird murals" of
toucans,
macaws,
crested cranes, etc.
The tiled fountain from the Bird Park was moved to Avalon Plaza after the aviary was shut down.
The Bird Park was adjacent to the
Catalina Island Golf Course. Some of the bird park structures have been converted into subsidized housing.
Additional images
See also
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Catalina macaw
The Catalina macaw, sometimes known as the rainbow macaw is a first generation hybrid between the blue-and-gold macaw and scarlet macaw. As catalina macaws are hybrids, they do not have a true scientific name. The best way to represent these bir ...
*
Catalina Island bison herd
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References
External links
Islapedia: Bird Park
* {{YouTube, F3I81IDbxYc, "Strange Birds" (1930 color film short)
Aviaries in the United States
Bird parks
Santa Catalina Island (California)
1926 establishments in California
1966 disestablishments in California
Educational organizations established in 1926
Zoos established in the 1920s
Zoos disestablished in the 20th century
Educational organizations disestablished in 1966
Former zoos
Zoos in California