Did you know there are more plastic flamingos in the USA than real ones? Plastic flamingos are widely considered to be

the stereotypical example of lawn ornament.

The plastic flamingo was designed in 1957 by Don Featherstone while working for Union Products, the pink flamingo has gone from a piece of Florida exotica to a symbol of trash culture. Featherstone sculpted his 3-D flamingos from clay, working from photos of the birds in National Geographic. These official flamingos were sold in pairs, with one standing upright and the other with its head low to the ground, “feeding”.

Ornithologists estimate that there are only 950,000 flamingos in existence today, and the plastic lawn ornaments have been produced well into the millions.