Smithsonian National Zoo’s New Bird House Highlights Migratory Birds’ Incredible Journeys

Ruddy ducks in the Prairie Pothole Aviary.
Ruddy ducks in the Prairie Pothole Aviary. / Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute
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The Bird-Friendly Coffee Farm Aviary at the National Zoo.
The Bird-Friendly Coffee Farm Aviary demonstrates how agricultural sites can be valuable habitats for migratory songbirds. / Kat Long

The final aviary presents a bird-friendly coffee farm in Central America, complete with actual coffee plants, palms, and a babbling brook within a two-story skylit room. Bright green parakeets nibble on delicious-looking salads in elevated trays, while cedar waxwings, Baltimore orioles, red-eyed vireos, and other colorful songbirds fly freely through the trees. The squawking flock demonstrates how agricultural sites can provide supportive habitats for North America’s backyard birds and other animals (and how caffeine fans can help them by buying bird-friendly, shade-grown coffee).