Finally got to go to the zoo. The babies were out playing. I didn't get to spend as much time as I wanted but took way too many pictures. Jade is our newest baby elephant she is about 14 months old. She was having fun, playing in the water and with her food.

 

Jade

Playing with Food

Playing with Water

Jade

Jade

 

More to come later. Have a Wonderful Day! Thanks for looking. :o)

I've got a most unusual creature today.  Not really unusual, but just unusual looking.  Have you ever really stared at a Giraffe?  I mean, seriously stared at one? 

They're kinda big... and awkward.  But that's ok.  Every creature is awkward at some point.  Giraffes just never seem to grow out of that stage.  Which makes them fascinating to watch. 

This is the closest I've seen them in my 3 visits.  Nashville has three giraffes and typically they stay in the back of the enclosure where, even with my 300mm lens, I can't get nice head shots.  But this guy, he got in my face.  It was fun, and I think he enjoyed being in the spotlight a little.

Thanks for looking.  All kinds of comments are appreciated!

My local park has a great selection of native animals on display. The park is great for families to walk around and have a picnic on. Here are some photos of Eastern Kangaroos, Red Kangaroos and Emus.
The Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) is a marsupial found in southern and eastern Australia, with a population of several million. Although a big Eastern Grey male typically weighs around 66 kg (145 lb.) and stands almost 2 m (6 ft.) tall, the scientific name, Macropus giganteus (gigantic large-foot), is misleading, as the Red Kangaroo of the semi-arid inland is larger.
The Red Kangaroo (Macropus rufus) is the largest of all kangaroos and the largest surviving marsupial. It is found across mainland Australia, avoiding only the more fertile areas in the south, the east coast, and the northern rainforests. Red Kangaroo's legs work much like a rubber band. The male Red Kangaroo can leap in full force approximately 9.14 meters in one leap. Males grow up to 1.8m (6 feet) tall and weigh up to 187lbs . Females grow up to 1.1m (3.6ft) tall and weigh up to 77lbs . Tails can be up to 1m (3ft) along.
The Emu, (Dromaius novaehollandiae) is the largest bird native to Australia. It is also the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. The soft-feathered, brown, flightless birds reach up to 2 m (6 ft) in height. The Emu is common over most of mainland Australia, although it avoids heavily populated areas, dense forest and arid areas. Emus can travel great distances at a fast, economical trot and, if necessary, can sprint at 50 km/h (30 mph) for some distance at a time. They are opportunistically nomadic and may travel long distances to find food; they feed on a variety of plants and insects.

Eastern_Grey Baby_Red Big_Red Emu_1 Emu_2 Emu_3  

Went to the the Zoo on Friday, it was a brisk 58 degrees and as you can tell sun the was playing hide and seek.
I wanted to get some different animals and I was surprised to find the Ocelot...

Some thing new...
Pretty as can be...
In all my time at the zoo I have him once before, and nothing like this!
Then I walked over to the Sifka's and found...  
A True So Cal sun worshiper...
And that's where my search for new went cold...everyone was huddling or sleeping.
So it was back to the old favorites and they did not disappoint...
I love these guys...they're still at it!

Julliet and Seti cuddling up...
For the challenge...
I got your love right here...
Remember how I said that Seti was the quiet one...forget it!
Denny and Seti tearing it up...  
Not the best focus, but I love this shot...wild thing...
Ah the difference between 1600 and 200 ISO...

Short Joke
Aarrgghh!

Please forgive the number!
Comment Welcome!
Blessing!

We went to the Brevard Zoo last week. We'd never been there before and didn't know what to expect.  It's a small zoo but really nice, and we had a great time.  Guess what we saw most of ?  BIRDS!!  But such unusual ones, I had to share...

We were greeted by a welcoming committee:
 Line up

These two were posing for visitors:
Pretty in Pink

Had to wait for this Pin Tail to cross.  He was all the way from the Bahamas
Just Coasting

This beauty told us the way to go
 Majestic

At the Aviary a real cutie ushered us in
Follow me, please....

So far, we had been on our own, but once inside, Lee got an assistant
Looks OK on this end!

There were some animals, too.  They'll be next.  We're still sorting through about 1,200 pictures.  (Don't ya love digital?)  Hope you enjoyed our day.

A little love LA Zoo style...

Love can be so sweet...
It's good to be the baby...
And I'll kiss you back...
A lick here and there...
It's all love til someone looses a paw...

This is my other boy friend Seti, for Seattle. The quiet one, he doesn't raise as much hell as his siblings

Short Joke
And the for our Synchronized Sleeping event...
the winners are...

Comment Welcome!
Blessing!

I took this trying out my new camera The eye

This was at the Jacksonville Zoo the itch

North Shore in Hawaii View from the bottom

Visiting my parents in Georgia Rabbit Island

View of Rabbit Island earth's colors

One of my foster kitties Grand entrance

More from the San Antonio Zoo. Wait until the African Exhibit opens up in a couple of weeks, hope you don't get tired of looking at Zoo pictures! :)Birdy Flamingos Hyena Kangaroo Lory 3 Lory 4 Lory 5

BTW, please let me know if I over-enhanced some of these? Thanks.

There were so many birds at the zoo and I did my level best to take pictures of all of them. Here are the some of my favs .

This eagle pair came to the San Antonio Zoo because some SOB shot them!! The male is missing 2/3rds of his left wing and the female is missing 1/2 of her right wing. Since they can no longer fly the zoo has them in an open enclosure. I was only 4 feet away from them.Male Eagle1 Male eagle 2 Male eagle 3 Female eagle
Fun/ThumbHappy New Year

I went back to the San Antonio Zoo today and took some more pictures of the Snow Leopard. He is a magnificent animal. This time it wasn't a fluke shot, I just shot tons of pictures of him with a Canon EFS 75-300 lense. These are the best ones of the batch. Snow Leopard 2 Snow Leopard 3 Snow Leopard 4 Snow Leopard 5 Snow Leopard 6 Snow Leopard 7 Snow Leopard 8 Snow Leopard 9

So I've exhausted my zoo picture resource from that one cloudy sunday afternoon.  All I have left is a few birds.  I found out what the strange fella was that puzzled us from my first visit.  He's a red-crowned crane

And oddly enough I found ducks at the zoo.
ducks at the zoo 3
ducks at the zoo 6

Well, that concludes my tour of the Nashville zoo.  I hope I haven't drug this out too long for some of you.  I'll be on to bigger and brighter things in 2008, I promise.  I just have to get an off day where there's some sun and not a family function to attend.  

Thanks for all your wonderful comments on my posts these past couple of weeks.  Have a great day!

I mentioned yesterday that at the keeper talk, they also fed the tigers a snack.  You could tell the tigers were getting rather impatient about the wait.  But finally, the keeper came around and it was Snack Time.

Tomorrow I'll bring you a few more birds and then close the Nashville Zoo exhibit.  But don't fret... I'll go back.  I'm thinking about doing my intermediate II project on the zoo(s).  Thanks for all your wonderful comments and putting up with me being so lazy I haven't taken pictures since this zoo visit.

I got 3 more zoo posts for you and then I'll be done with the zoo for a while.  That being said, I hope everyone had a magnificent christmas/holiday.

Now, back to the zoo for a few more days.  Today will be part 1 of 2 of the tiger sisters.  On Sundays, they have a Keeper Talk at 1 p.m. for the tigers.  You get to ask questions and learn about the two animals and you get to watch them munch on a snack.  I learned a few things about Bengal tigers and that these two are sisters.  The keeper told us their names... but they weren't exactly easy to remember.

Anyway, without further ado, I give you a Tale of Two Sisters.

... and the last of the 'new' creatures from the zoo.  Just a slideshow of some of the Random Zoo Creatures that I didn't have enough shots to justify a post for each critter.  

Most of these are soft and I'm sorry for that.  They were taken later that day, combine that with sheltered living spaces and no sun and you get pretty low shutter speeds, even with a higher ISO (between 400-800).  You don't have to vote, because I know the quality isn't that high, but I thought I'd try and give you guys the full Nashville Zoo experience.

But to redeem my critter shot quality, here are two shots of the stuff you might see walking from exhibit to exhibit.

Nashville Zoo - Bamboo
Nashville Zoo 2 - Koi Pond

Tomorrow I start with some of the critters I posted the last time I went.  And were starting off with Penny's Favorite, the Hyacinth Macaws.  Have a great Wednesday!

I'm not sure who exactly is related to this little fella, however, I do know that they are called Schmidt's Guenon.  They're awfully cute critters in my book.

Hope you guys aren't getting tired of the zoo cause tomorrow is another big cat.  

Today from the zoo the Eurasian Lynx.  

She was really hard to capture.  After she finally came out from behind a fallen log she continually paced.  The zoo keeper told us that she was pretty new and that this was the first place she'd ever been alone, having lived most of her life with her mother and sister.  They've got a male lynx to join her and are slowly introducing the two behind scenes.  They hope this will calm her down a bit... and eventually lead to breeding.

Anyway, have a great weekend everybody!

A trip to the zoo  and a couple morehippo flamingos pinecones bee  

The zoo has a new hut with lorikeets in it.  They're free to fly around and you just walk around with them.  I had fun watching the little birds and taking a few shots.

But they had more than lorikeets.  I don't know what this pretty girl is but I know her name is Princess.  
Again, don't know what species of this one, but I liked the shot.

Not sure what I'll bring you tomorrow... maybe a few primates.  Hope everyone has a great day!

Well, we didn't get to go to the zoo on Thursday like planned.  It was too cold and most of the animals weren't out.  But we got to go yesterday.

I have lots of pictures.  Got to visit all the animals this time, but I'll make sure just to post the best shots and I'll start with the animals I didn't show last time... like the Clouded Leopard.

Hope you enjoy my tour of the Nashville zoo because there's more to come tomorrow.