The Central Park Zoo has turned its escaped peacock into the goose that lays the golden egg.

The wayward bird flapped his way home early yesterday after a night on a Fifth Avenue window ledge — and officials cashed in on his adventure with greater weekday crowds than normal.

Attendance yesterday was up between 20 and 50 percent.

“Everybody’s here today for the peacock,” said a worker. “I’ve never seen it this busy on a Wednesday.”

The peacock escaped at 9 a.m. Tuesday and perched on a window ledge at 838 Fifth Ave.

It was the third time recently that an animal had escaped a Wildlife Conservation Society zoo. In April, a cobra got loose at the Bronx Zoo. In May, a peahen broke free there.