Oakland Zoo recovers 5 of 6 birds that escaped storm-damaged aviary
OAKLAND — California's Oakland Zoo has recovered all but one of six birds that flew the coop last week when a tree fell during a storm and damaged an aviary.
A pied crow named Deauville was captured Saturday after an Oakland resident a few miles from the zoo reported that the distinctive black-and-white bird was in her yard, according to the zoo's social media posts.
Great news! Today an Oakland resident living a few miles from the Zoo spotted Deauville, one of our 2 last missing birds, a Pied Crow. Our keepers headed over and were able to lure him inside this kind resident’s home, where he was safely caught & brought back to the Zoo!
— Oakland Zoo (@oakzoo) March 26, 2023
(1/3) pic.twitter.com/3w3mEFxSFL
Zookeepers lured the bird into the home and quickly shut the door behind it.
That left one fugitive to recover, another pied crow named Diego, the zoo said.
The two pied crows, three superb starlings and a hooded vulture named Oliver escaped from the San Francisco Bay Area zoo on March 21 when the falling tree tore a mesh covering over the African Savanna aviary.
The starlings did not venture far from the aviary and were soon recovered. The hooded vulture spent three days in trees on zoo grounds before food treats lured him to the flamingo habitat, where he was recovered.