With symbolic golden shovels, an appearance by two big birds and spectators that included donors and an elected official, the National Aviary broke ground on a $4 million addition on Thursday.

The 9,000-square-foot structure will include The Garden Room, which will be a year-round rental “event space” that will generate income from weddings, corporate events and meetings. 

The Garden Room and a new entryway to the aviary, The Charity Randall Foundation Eagle Hall, are expected to open in September 2020. The National Aviary will remain open during construction.

The Garden Room will replace the Rose Garden tent, which was rented for weddings and other events during warm weather months. 

“This is a milestone for the National Aviary” said executive director Cheryl Tracy. Her backdrop for remarks made indoors before ground was actually “broken” included an appearance by Pumpkin, a Eurasian eagle owl, on the gloved hand of a bird trainer. 

The Garden Room will also “provide space for the growth of our education programs serving our community schools.”

Last year 26,000 school students came to the North Side facility for programs, Ms. Tracy said. 

“We are in the business of saving birds from extinction” by working in the field in other countries and by breeding birds inside the bird zoo.

Five hundred birds from more than 150 species live there. Many of them are endangered or threatened in their native habitats. Representing them was Mack, a military macaw with a trainer, who seemed to enjoy visits from donors and other visitors. He’s one of a number of trained birds who are “educational ambassadors.” 

Mayor Bill Peduto called the National Aviary “a gem for the City of Pittsburgh, particularly the North Side. Not too long ago the future of this facility was in question. You have turned it around.”

Built in 1952 in Allegheny Commons Park as The North Side Conservatory-Aviary, it gradually pivoted away from botanicals to concentrate on birds. It was operated by the city. 

A city budget crisis in 1992 threatened to close the aviary. A citizens group called Save the Aviary rallied, with local leaders, to privatize and save the facility. It has continued to grow and thrive as a private nonprofit. Congress and President Bill Clinton approved the “National Aviary” designation in 1993.

The $4 million addition is fully funded by donations. The “lead funding” is from the Richard King Mellon Foundation. Other contributors are Eden Hall Foundation, Jack Buncher Foundation, Charles M. Morris Charitable Trust and Robert and Mary Weisbrod Foundation. The Allegheny County Economic Development Community Infrastructure and Tourism Fund contributed $225,000.

Other noteworthy expansions include an $18.5 million project in 2010. It added what aviary officials said was “the world’s first and only indoor theater constructed exclusively” for shows featuring free-flying parrots, vultures, hawks, owls, gulls, eagles and other birds. 

A $1.2 million renovation in 2018 included 3,146 replacement panes of bird-friendly glass in the ceiling and walls of the Tropical Rainforest exhibit.

Linda Wilson Fuoco: lfuoco@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1953 or at PG Pets on Facebook.

First Published: December 19, 2019, 8:11 p.m.