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Flamingo Lagoon

A flamboyant flamingo welcome

You'll be instantly drawn to our Caribbean flamingo flock as you enter the Zoo. With their flamboyant color and amusing behaviors, flamingos make the perfect welcoming committee! The Flamingo Lagoon features two separate viewing areas, affording a choice of vantage points. One area features an elevated walkway where you can look down into the exhibit instead of across it at eye level. From this perspective virtually every corner of the enclosure can be seen.

Three beach areas, a nesting island, a large lagoon of gently circulating water, and lush landscaping have all combined to make the flamingos feel right at home. How do we know they're comfortable in their Zoo surroundings? They consistently hatch and raise chicks! Flamingos lay one chalky white egg in a mud nest that is built like a drip sand castle by the parents. The birds sit on a mud mound, reach over, pick up mud and dribble it onto the nest, which can reach two feet in height and is usually surrounded by a trench as further protection from rising water.

The nesting area in Flamingo Lagoon contains a special mixture of mud that includes clay to provide for more stable nests. The area also contains "bubblers" on timers that periodically flood the area. This approximates conditions found in the wild that keep the mud wet and pliable for nest building.

Fun facts

• Caribbean flamingos have been exhibited at the Zoo since 1932, and they have been at the front entrance for over 50 years. They are the Zoo's unofficial ambassadors.
• The lagoon was originally the Dryer Flamingo Lagoon, named for Joseph E. Dryer, the founder of a city booster organization called The San Diego Heaven on Earth Club.
• The flock in the Lagoon numbers over 70 flamingos, but the Lagoon can accommodate up to 100 birds.
• Flamingos are consistently rated among the most popular attractions in zoological parks.
• A bronze statue of King Tut is located in the same spot where this famous cockatoo greeted Zoo visitors for many years.