With the addition of the James's flamingo in 1964, the San Diego Zoo could boast having five of the six living types of flamingos. The James's flamingo is the smallest and rarest of the New World flamingos, native to the Andes. For many years it was believed to be extinct, until in 1960, William Conway, director of the New York Zoological Garden at the time, brought the first live bird to be seen in man years out of South America.