At the Columbus Zoo, Part 3…

Are you sick of the zoo yet?  Well, I must say that my daughter Carrie and I never really get sick of looking at animals.  That’s something we have in common.  Her 30^th birthday is today, by the way.

Happy birthday, Number One!  

Carrie wanted badly to see a kiwi, which they have at the Columbus Zoo.  I got no pictures because kiwis are nocturnal animals and their habitat at the zoo is dark.  It took me a while to adjust to the darkness and I didn’t immediately see the kiwis, but Carrie did.  They sure are cool birds and bigger than I thought they were.  But they weren’t the only cool animals we saw in the Australia section of the zoo.

Here’s a Kookaburra and he’s sitting in an old gum tree.  While we were admiring him, there was a young girl singing the kookaburra song, making me wonder how many thousands of times that bird has heard it.

This elegant bird is actually a pigeon so watch out the next time you disparage pigeons.  It’s a Victoria Crowned Pigeon.  He’s actually from New Guinea.

Here’s Jane, she was born at the zoo earlier this year.  She looks like she knows her way around these days.

This isn’t a very good photo, but I like it anyhow.  That bird had just hopped off of the roo’s back.  None of it seemed to phase the bunny.

We had a great time at the Columbus Zoo, but the 90+ degree day finally got the best of us so we left without seeing everything we wanted to see.  But we knew we had to get on the road early the next day and head for home.  One of these days, we may well go back.

At the Columbus Zoo, Part 2…

My daughter Carrie and I spent a day at the zoo in Columbus, Ohio, recently.  After we went through the America section, we moseyed on to the Shores area.

There we saw Caribbean flamingos.  It’s not hard to see how they got to be the kings of lawn ornaments.  They are funny birds to me but the color of the Caribbean flamingo is simply spectacular.

Going along at the zoo, our next stop was at the Humboldt penguin habitat.

We were very lucky to see flamingos and penguins in the wild when we lived in Chile.  The flamingos we saw were in northern Chile in Laguna Chaxa in the Salar de Atacama, which is the most easily accessible flamingo breeding site in the desert.  The Chilean Flamingo is very much like the Caribbean but not quite so pink.  This is an old photo from our trip there.

There is a colony of Humboldt penguins that live on an island off the coastal town of Zapallar, Chile, a place where we spent New Year’s Eve day on the beach.  While we could only see them off in the distance, it was neat to be that close to those cool little birds in the wild. 

Also while in Chile, we also got to see Magellanic penguins on a trip we took to Patagonia.  This is an old photo I took when we were there.  I just wanted to pick up one of those baby birds (with the grey feathers) and hug it.  Of course, I didn’t.  I still consider the experiences of getting to see these wonderful birds in the wild to be some of the best of my life.  What I wouldn’t have given to have had my Nikon d90 with me then!

From the Shores at the zoo, we went on to the Congo.  Columbus Zoo has a lot of primate babies right now and we saw them all.  This is one of two Colobus Monkey babies born at the zoo in May of this year.  Their names are Dr. Leonard Hofstadter and Howard Wolowitz.  Obviously, there’s a fan of Big Bang Theory around there somewhere.

We saw the baby Western Lowland Gorilla, Kamoli, but I didn’t get any good photos of him.  And we saw the baby Bonobo, born in 2012.  No good pics of the baby Bonobo either, but it makes me glad to know that the Columbus Zoo has been successful in Bonobo births.  They have welcomed 13 baby bonobos to the zoo since 1990.  According to the zoo website:  The bonobo is the rarest (great ape) with only 5,000-50,000 living in the equatorial forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).   The primary threat to the endangered bonobo is human behavior, mainly habitat destruction caused by logging.  A secondary threat is the hunting of bonobos for bushmeat for native consumption and for sale to logging companies and markets.  Maybe that’s what this guy is thinking about.

But I was thrilled to get to see this baby Mandrill, Mosi, born on September 9, 2013.  He had us laughing at his acrobatics and then seemed to decide that the leaves he wanted were on the other side of the fence or maybe he was just a little curious about us.  What a face!

Next we were on to Australia...

Random Five Friday: Snow Days…

1)  We got around 10 to 12 inches of snow in this last round of wild winter weather.  But we were very glad that it was all snow and not the dreaded wintry mix.  Snow is much easier to deal with.

2)  The weather has caused us to have a couple of unusual visitors to our birdfeeders.  Yesterday and today, I saw what I think is a Carolina Wren.  I am not positive of the identification though so if you know, I would appreciate it if you could tell me.  We also had a crow who was slumming under our feeder but he wouldn’t turn around so I could get a good picture.

3)  Here’s what it looks like at the end of our driveway.  I feel sort of like I’m living in a shopping mall with that big pile, but my trip to the grocery today made me realize that there are much bigger piles of the white stuff around town.

4)  I like snow and winter but I find it rather amazing that there is such a HUGE difference in comfort level between 15 degrees and 30 degrees.  Today felt rather balmy around here and seeing the sun is almost always good.  I guess that shouldn't really be a surprise.  After all, there's a HUGE difference in comfort level between 72 and 85, too.

5)  So today is Valentine’s Day.  Do you celebrate it?  Early on in our relationship, Greg made it clear that he wasn’t one to celebrate “Hallmark” holidays, so it’s just another day to us.  I minded a bit at first, but it also lets me off the hook, so these days I am okay with it.

Linking up to A Rural Journal's

Random 5 Friday!

The Winter Life…

As I sit here, it is snowing like crazy and it’s very cold.  But, like it or not, we all have our ways of dealing with winter.

Olive, the pug, has found that sitting in front of the propane stove until she is warm does it for her.

Our bird friends make more visits to the feeder.  They mostly sit and wait their turns.

Although the goldfinches are willing to wait, once it’s their turn they like to sit inside the feeder eating their fill and pitching their rejects on the ground.

I don’t think you will hear this little field mouse complaining.

Hoping you all stay warm and safe!

Variety is the spice of life...

It’s cold here.  Not as cold as in the upper Midwest, but pretty darn cold.  It is also very bright and beautiful out.  It seems like the birds are extra active in weather like this.  They have been coming and going with great frequency to the feeder.  Now and then they have to rest though and when they do, I have been trying to grab my camera.  Here are the birds who have visited us lately.

The official state bird of Massachusetts:  the Black-capped Chickadee.  He looks official, doesn't he?

The cardinals are not as apt to hang around near the house.  If you look closely in this photo, you will see this dashing male's wife sitting on a branch behind him.

This little Junco looks curious, but the Juncos are very skittish so I don't think he knows I'm there.

Of course, the Wild Turkeys have to stop in the yard on their way through the neighborhood.  I got a kick out of watching them jump off the ground trying to grab the leftover crab apples off the tree.  Sort of the opposite of bobbing for apples.

This morning, there are American Robins in the yard.  We've noticed that they  have been sticking around during the winter the last few years.  So much for them being the heralds of spring.

Sharing the birds…

I had a busy weekend.  But it was blah and uneventful as far as my camera was concerned.  I took fewer than 100 photos, which may be an all time low for me.  But I manage to eke out two rather boring shots for my Flickr 365 so I was happy about that.

Yesterday afternoon I was involved in photography in a different way.  I helped my daughter Carrie frame her photos for an upcoming exhibit in Northampton, Massachusetts.  She and her fellow photographers from the Northampton Camera Club will have photos displayed at Historic Northampton in an exhibit called “Northampton as We See It” from December 12, 2013 to January 25, 2014.  Carrie’s photos are very good and I’m not saying that just because I’m her mother.  I think I will ask her to email me a couple to share with you all and you will see for yourselves what a talented daughter I have.

Meanwhile, the birds were super busy at the feeders today.  I think they were trying to keep themselves warm.  But I managed to shoot a few and will share them today.

It’s always nice when the Juncos come back for the winter and one sat in the bush and cooperated so nicely.

Personally, I think the beauty and understated elegance of the female cardinal is second to none.

And the chickadee is always fun to watch even if he is everywhere.