In the vibrant world of wetland birds, you will encounter not only elegant cranes and majestic shoebills, but also extremely rare Brazilian mergansers, striking scarlet ibises, or lively lapwings darting about.

Behind the Feline and Reptile House, near the old millstream, lie waterlogged meadows. It was only natural that this area became the site of a large exhibit complex showcasing bird species from wetlands across the globe.

A stroll along the wooden boardwalks leads visitors past open enclosures inhabited by cranes and waterfowl, and on to the covered shoebill exhibit. These unique birds, with their enormous bills, are kept by only a handful of zoos worldwide. At Prague Zoo, you can observe them through a glass front in a lushly planted enclosure designed to evoke the atmosphere of the floodplains of Central Africa.

The centrepiece of the entire complex is a nearby system of four spacious aviaries, enclosed by an almost invisible mesh. Each aviary represents wetland birds from a different zoogeographic region: Eurasia, Africa, and two distinct regions of South America (the Atlantic Forest and the Amazon). Two of them are walk-through aviaries, where only a simple railing separates visitors from the vibrant bird communities within.

Bird Wetlands, photo: Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo