Abstract
Phoenix is famous for its mild winters, hot summers and usually brief fall and spring transitions. Despite the inconvenience of hot summers, the typically mild winters enable the Phoenix Zoo to maintain its entire bird collection outdoors year around. Our waterfowl, crane, rat ite, raptor and gamebird species are not as adversely affected by our weather as the hookbill and softbill species. With the exception of Gouldian finches (kept in the past), none of the various bird species are provided with a heat element in the winter. However, every bird exhibit that houses either softbills or hookbills, both on and off display, is equipped with a water mister that sprays a fine cooling mist whenever the air temperature exceeds 100 ° Fahrenheit. The misters are located in the exhibit in such a way as to give the birds the option of perching away from the water spray should they prefer to remain dry. Amazing as it may seem, many birds do not take advantage of the water spray even when temperatures exceed 112 °; they simply pant it out and move around as little as possible in the heat of the day.
