**Please note: The Swan Boats will close for the season on Sunday, September 19, as the Zoo begins an ambitious and exciting lake restoration project.

As part of the Zoo’s Footprints conservation initiative, Bird Lake will become a self-sustaining water feature that will rely on natural wetlands to maintain water quality and to improve the overall ecosystem that exists around the water.

Be sure to visit next spring to see all of the exciting improvements – including a new boardwalk promenade!**

If you're looking for the perfect activity for active children, look no farther than the Swan Boats on Bird Valley. Youngsters can paddle their way around Bird Lake in the Zoo's Victorian swan boats, each one built for two to three people. This activity will provide boatloads of summer fun for everyone. Boat rides are open from late spring through early fall.
 

Did you know that Victorian swan boats were inspired by an opera? Boston resident Robert Paget was searching for a way to conceal the machinery and human driver of a new, foot-powered paddleboat he invented in 1877. When he recalled seeing Wagner's opera "Lohengrin," the idea of covering his boats with giant, carved swans came to him. In the opera, the hero searches for the love of his life in a boat drawn by a swan.