birds of a feather
Houston Zoo staff and volunteers move 54 flamingos to a new aviary
Flamingos on the move to their new home.
Moving house is hard. Moving a 54-bird flock of Chilean flamingos is harder. Luckily, The Houston Zoo had a plan.
On Tuesday, June 11, the flamingos moved from their old location to the new Birds of the World aviary, opening August 30, 2024. In order to keep the famous pink birds on track, 200 zoo staff, volunteers, and board members formed a moving wall that drove the flamingos walk through the zoo to their new home, the South American Wetlands.
As seen on the Houston Zoo’s official TikTok, the birds seemed to take it well, moving briskly and sashaying their way through the thoroughfares like the only models in a runway show. The bird herders smiled as they gently nudge the flamingos forward towards their lavish new enclosure, complete with a waterfall.
The South American Wetlands is one of three new aviaries opening at the Houston Zoo. It will contain various exotic, colorful birds that visitors will see by walking through a double mesh-enclosed pathway. The grounds also include a historical sculptural tree created by Mexican American artist Dionicio Rodriguez, who made the artwork after being commissioned by the City of Houston in 1926.
Also opening is an African Savannah. This exhibit will be a big hit with guests thanks to its new vulture area. A mechanical carcass engine will allow the zoo to schedule feeding times for the scavengers, so that visitors can watch the birds eat. The feeder lets the birds stick their entire head into a rotting corpse, as they would in the wild. This practice is why vultures famously don’t have feathers on their heads.
Last, the North American Woodlands aviary will highlight the blue grosbeaks and indigo buntings seen in our own backyards. This area will teach visitors how to help conservation efforts in the United States, such as turning off bright lights after dark during migration season as this can confuse and injure birds flying to their roosting sites.
The Birds of the World exhibit is a 1.3-acre themed area that cost $13.5 million to build. Not only will it make viewing the birds of the Houston Zoo more fun, a new state-of-the-art campus for handlers and scientists will help staff monitor feeding and the breeding programs essential to bringing many species back from the brink of extinction.
