Think of it as Pittsburgh's other zoo.
With 600 creatures representing 220 species, plus a record attendance last year of 113,000 (a quarter of them children), why should the National Aviary not be seen Pittsburgh's second animal preserve?
In business now for 50 years on the North Side, what began as the West Park Aviary-Conservatory is looking better than ever after it moved to private management a decade ago and took major steps to upgrade not only its building but also its educational mission.
In the last two years alone, it has been the recipient of $700,000 in federal grants and it's a prime beneficiary of Allegheny County's Regional Asset District fund. The aviary completed a major renovation five years ago, which added an Endangered Bird Breeding Center, a Victorian glass-domed atrium, classrooms and a parking lot.
Rare is the city that can offer the experience of a walk through an indoor tropical garden, where exotic and native birds -- some rare or threatened -- fly freely between sky and water. Yet in Pittsburgh that stroll can be had 364 days a year at the National Aviary.
Today the modern facility is teaching humans about their winged neighbors through virtual, as well as actual, ways. RAVEN, an interactive robot that gives the aviary a Remote Audio-Visual Engagement Network, provides two-way communication with classrooms and other outside locations. This makes distance learning a standard feature of the aviary's outreach.
Nine years ago Congress conferred on the institution an honorific that, at the time, sounded presumptuous. But the "National Aviary in Pittsburgh" has more than lived up to its billing -- and this city will be fortunate to be its home for at least another 50 years.
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