National Aviary Reviews

Great place to kill a few hours. Eagles are fantastic. Peguins are adorable. Spoonbill and Flamingo area was set up beautifully.

Quaint yet awesome.. I have a handicapped friend for whom it difficult to get around somewhere like the Pittsburgh Zoo, so we started going to the Aviary.. their lectures/programs are enjoyable for adults and children alike, it's affordable, and the birds are fascinating! They have birds from essentially every continent on earth (though the penguins are South African, not from Antarctica!)

Kind of small, but really well maintained and the staff is knowledgeable and helpful.

Had lots of fun here. Highly recommend trying the flight simulator. The Amazon show is worth the extra cost...go sloth!

Been coming here for years always an enjoyable day!

This place is interesting and enjoyable on all levels. Always have a great experience.

Clean and nice place. Not as big as I was thinking. Really enjoyed the bigger exhibits.

Main area was being remodeled, but it was amazing to see all of the different birds in one area(building). There were several different areas in the structure for the birds of different climate zones also. Staff was very nice and informative!!

Lovely place to visit, wide variety of birds to view and visit with.

Good place to bring the family. Could have used more info on arrival on what was happening and timings but otherwise okay. Boy loved it, especially the feeding (great for only$3).

We got to feed the birds-one of them grabbed my bag string, wonderful experience.

We signed up for the penguin feeding, what a great experience that was. Highly recommend!!

Great place if you love birds. The penguins, bats, Flemingo and all the birds are awesome.

Really great and neat place to see !!! If you like different kinds of bird's and interaction this is the place to see.. fun for the whole family.

Kids enjoyed seeing the birds up close but for the size and time it took to see all the exhibits on a non-busy day (30 minutes) I felt that the cost of admission was too high.

Such an amazing experience to encounter these lovely birds. Will share to more friends to visit here

I really enjoyed all the birds and the staff was very knowledgeable.

The Aviary was an awesome place to visit today. The snack bar cashier was not helpful or nice.

Great place to go for a day. I've been there twice now. Their shows are great. Try the Birdly simulator. It is fantastic!

Beautiful and interactive. They have a wide variety of birds that just fly around where visitors walk. For an extra fee we were able to feed the Lorikeets in a special area. We also participated for free in one of the general feeding times. My husband "Got it" from one bird flying overhead and received a button saying so from an employee! What an unexpected birthday present for him! It was a great way to spend a cold, gloomy day.

Great place for you family and the staff is amazing and very knowledgeable

We really enjoyed our time there. The birds really seem happy and comfortable with their surroundings. It took us about 2 hours with watching one show and a feeding. We'll go back.

Great time and fun but smaller than expected, especially for the price.

This charming museum and aviary has birds galore even live penguin. We have gone there with our granddaughter VERONICA whenever we visit her in Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania. It is such a kid friendly place that she had her birthday party there. It was held in a heated tentlike area with tables and chairs.We provided our own food and refreshments which are also available in the large museum snack bar. A speaker came with some friendly parrots to talk to our group about birds and the aviary. The kids could individually meet the birds(parrots and a penguin) who were tame. After the celebration,we all toured the museum and aviary. There were guides at the exhibits. Everything was very visible and accessible. I used a museum provided wheelchair. The bathrooms and doors were easy to use. The bookstore was a bit tight but usable. You can pay cash,checks or credit cards for the admission The parking is free. The Aviary is in downtown Pittsburgh,Pa. It is near the streets and highways.
Keep it in mind for your next visit! 5 stars!

My daughter got to feed a bird with a fish during the wetland feeding event, also fed the canaries with nectar from a cup while they sat on her hand, it is a pretty cool place but make sure to follow the program as I think it is easy to miss some of the events and exhibits.

Must visit this place if you happen to visit Pittsburg. Nice place to see all kind of birds in the rain forest , see the Flamingo and penguins as well.closes at 5 pm. Excellent experience of bird feeding.

Completely amazing place. Friendly and very educational staff and volunteers. Beautiful evening event we went to.

Birds are great, staff Is friendly. A great time every time we go.

Wonderful way to spend an afternoon in Pittsburgh. Be sure to try out the VR flying through NYC experience. Awesome!!

The birds and staff are wonderful. It's a perfect getaway from the normal day to day whilst also giving you some knowledge!

Always excellent... Specially with a 4 and 5 year old!

This place is amazing. Cant beat the exhibit with finches zipping by your head. The entire thing is amazing.

A bit pricey but the money goes to conservation and saving birds. Nice place to visit if you enjoy birds.

So many birds to see...its a place for both kids and adults. You're sure to have fun! I recommend flying in the virtual Birdly. I loved it...

Great place, great theme. Kids would love it. Nice place to spend 2hrs on a weekend

We've been members for years. Great place to spend a couple hours, then grab a bite to eat. There's always something new to see. The educational exhibits are customized for everyone from small kids, up through adults. We've done a couple of the encounters and both were very worth it. The local park is also a great place for a picnic.

Very nice experience at the price we enjoyed ourselves very much

Our favorite place. Beautiful birds and great employees

Cute place for kids but very expensive for what it is

I've never been here before and we went on a double date here and it was so much fun. Its reasonably prices, being able to feed the birds was incredible (and cheap!!). I had so much fun here and would go again in a heartbeat.

This place is a nice way to kill two/three hours of your day, there is lots of colorful and actually adorable birds from the tropics to the common ones in the forest. They actually just reopened Tropical Rainforest as I went. Before it was real musty and had an uncomfortable heat to it, now it's much more pleasant. The drawback for me is unless if you are with a slow family, this place is rather small so if you are expecting to stay all day, prepare to be disappointed because you'll be all finished up at mostly four hours if you include the shows and the Virtual Reality thing (which honestly doesn't seem as bad as the one from the Carnegie Museum of Arts... now that one was bad). As for the smell, what do you expect the birds to smell like... cologne... just get over it then. Overall it's a nice place, I say it's not as good as the Pittsburgh Zoo but if the weather is either too cold, too hot, too snowy, or too rainy for the Zoo, Kennywood, Idlewild, or others, I'd prefer this over the Carnegie Science Center/Museum Of Natural History/Arts but I haven't visited those places lately due to my lack of interest because they haven't updated anything.

So many awesome birds in open environments. It's amazing to watch the so close up. They are also doing a wonderful job keeping the crowds low and the place extra clean

A great place for kids and adults alike. Plenty of birds to see and interact with. My wife loved her penguin encounter too.

Recent improvements to the Tropical Forest room are amazing. Every time we go, there's something different!

Great place to kill time. Lots of things to look at. Very family friendly. Great for a rainy day.

It is a nice place to visit, lots of birds free flying in their habitats! The only complaint is the place didn't take much time to see pretty much everything that is included with he general admission and the price for that is kinda steep for a family on a budget.

Took our one year old. She seemed to enjoy seeing the penguins splash around n especially liked the exhibits where the birds were flying around in the open. The eagles are pretty amazing to see up close. Shockingly big. Older kids would enjoy the butterfly exhibit where you can put sugar water on your finger and "hold" them. Worth the price of admission for a day that is "zoo like" without all the hassles of the actual zoo.

Pennsylvania is home to more than a dozen zoos, but there is only one aviary in the state.

However, the National Aviary in Pittsburgh is not only the only aviary in PA, but it s also the largest aviary in the United States.

The aviary opened in 1952 as the city-funded Pittsburgh Aviary-Conservatory.

It was expanded to 25,000 square feet by 1967 and remained a popular institution for many years.

The aviary was almost a casualty of Pittsburgh s declining industry, but a non-profit, grassroots organization came together to save the aviary and make it into a private organization.

For those wanting to get an in-depth look at the aviary s animals, they offer several interactive experiences that give visitors the chance to get up close and personal with some of their animals. These experiences have an additional cost, and it s recommended that you book them ahead of time.

Lots of fun! Small but you can easily get a couple hours out of it. Affordable food and souvenirs.

It was a nice place, but for it to have the name "National Aviary" I thought it was rather small. I've been to some zoos that had similar bird areas.

What a great place to visit - I must do with your kids if you come to Pittsburgh

Wonderful. I'd been past this place many times on the way to the Mattress Factory (one of my Pittsburgh favorites), but never stopped in until today. Although it might seem a fairly small place, there was enough going on for me to occupy 3 hours very happily. I'm not a "bird watcher", but I was captivated by the ability to get up close to a wide variety of exotic species - for example, being less than a foot away from brightly-colored Australian finches; about 18" from a penguin grooming herself; having an Inca Tern on the wing snatch a small grub from my fingers; and having three Lories perched on my hand eating out of a cup of nectar. I didn't go to any of the paid shows, but did enjoy the free "feeding shows" a lot. The student volunteers are friendly, the staff helpful and knowledgeable. Well worth a visit.

It's amazing. My 2-year old daughter loved all the different species.

This is such a fun & educational place for all ages.

Wonderful place. Doesn't take long to explore though. Great place to have a party with food and cake but I wouldn't recommend coming here if you're looking to be actively exploring for a few hours since it's a relatively small area.

Make sure you check out the sky show its definitely worth it!

Such a once in a life time experience. Very very very expensive though. If you don't plan your trip around feeding times then you won't get to experience all they have to offer. They also need to put signs upon entering the free flying bird rooms that the guests can not touch the birds. I saw a lot of little kids chasing the poor things. I would love to come back and plan our trip so we can do the bird feedings. This time I'm hoping to find a coupon online or something. For a family of 5 it was $90 for general admission. Each species of bird feedings ranged from $3-$150 per person.

Fun to see all the birds and there habitats and watch them interact with each other.

We had a great visit! They do a nice job of creating an entire world inside each section. Plenty to see and do. We loved interacting with the staff and that many of the birds were free range in their habitats. An exciting afternoon. The food from Atria s was tasty too.

Great place for a family trip! Staff is amazing and so many things to see! You can pay extra to do interactive things like see the sloth or feed brids. Totally worth it! Parking lot is right by the enterence as well!

A little disappointing. Most of what would make the experience more fun was an upcharge

So happy I came!! it was my first time and I had such a great experience will for sure go again soon for 2 hours atleast really appreciate it

Awesome facility. Great variety of birds, exhibits and experiences.

This is one of the more unique places to visit in Pittsburgh. Many varieties of birds and biomes. It's very family friendly and the staff is usually pretty welcoming. You can plan a day in the area and visit the newly remodeled park and any of the newer restaurants. Also, it's a fantastic wedding venue. They have an awesome caterer.

It is like being immersed with the birds and their habitat! Staff is very knowledgeable! Love the feeding times too!

I had the rolling walker, and it was easy to get around.

Great place to spend the Fternoon and feed the birds

never knew it was here they do some things that dont make sense like putting birds in the food area that are in open cages and tell the customers to not make them sing and such....???? other then that its a nice place to visit at least once

This place was absolutely horrible! Don't waste your time driving here from far away. There is literally a parking lot that holds about 30 cars. We waited and drove around about 5 times. Ended up leaving. Waste of time