The first major expansion to Wilhelma's collection of birds began with the Sub Tropics Aviary in 1981 that houses kookaburras, Marbled ducks, Northern bald ibises, numerous species of parrot. A special feature of the aviaries is the only New Zealand kaka outside of New Zealand and the first successful breeding of a Kea in Germany. Due to the strain put on the historic wall of the Sub Tropic Aviary by the New Ape House, a new project for a larger aviary is pending.