By Amy, on January 14th, 2012
Someday I promise I’ll get back to working through the Glacier pictures. For now, though, here are more from last week’s visit to the zoo.
I knew something was up as I approached the Pronghorn Antelope exhibit. There were a couple of guys with cameras on tripods with honking massive lenses shooting away. They kept jockeying for better positions, and guys with that kind of equipment don’t get worked up over animals peacefully grazing, so I scurried over.
Sure enough, a couple of males were sparring. Although it’s winter to us, I know my birds feel spring coming as the days lengthen and are starting to show signs of breeding behavior. So it is with these antelope:
The other excitement was seeing the new Dhole exhibit. Dhole are a wild dog from Asia, and very few are left…less than 1,500, as I remember. The zoo is part of a breeding program, and they’ve brought in two males and two females.
I just love their fur. I wish my hair were this color!
Once I was done walking around outside, I headed for the aquariums. I’ve tried a couple of times before for a good turtle picture. I finally got one I liked. This is a Red-Eared Slider. Kinda sounds like what you’d call a White Castle hamburger with a lot of ketchup on it, doesn’t it? Not that I’ve ever eaten one. The hamburger, that is. Or a turtle, for that matter:
Yellow Perch on the other hand, I may have eaten a time or two:
By Amy, on January 8th, 2012
The Minnesota Zoo has a lot of cold-adapted animals, including snow mokeys. I’m not generally drawn to monkeys. In fact, I was once bitten by a monkey. It was being cared for by a young woman at a field station where I was staying. He was not well-socialized and had already bitten a woman on the face. One day, he came into my room and grabbed a bag of raisins. I took the raisins away and tossed them across the room–figuring if the monkey took offense, it would run after the food. Nope, it screamed and ran up to bite me on the leg.
The commotion caused his caretaker to arrive and intervene. She spanked him, kicked him out of the room, and I closed my door. Dang thing came back a couple of minutes later, climbed through the window, leapt onto my face, and tried to bite my eyes. Thank goodness he was small, and I was able to peel him off and throw him across the room.
No, I am not fond of monkeys. They have a concept of revenge you simply don’t encounter in most species. Still, I found myself looking at the snow monkeys at the zoo today, as I so rarely do. This one looked back:
She kept swivelling around to get a better angle on me, very intent on staring into the lens. She almost looks like she’s posing for the cover of Cosmo, doesn’t she?
Don’t be fooled. In the heart of this monkey dwells a homicidal maniac. They are rather cute when they’re tiny, though:
And this one? This one was being downright goofy:
I still wouldn’t want to run into him in a dark alley, though. He’d rip your face off, steal your raisins, and run off laughing, I bet!
By Amy, on December 25th, 2011
It was 42 degrees F and sunny here in Minneapolis today, with no snow on the ground. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Christmas like this one. Nobody hesitated to take advantage of the pleasant weather, however, so many folks, including me, headed to local parks for a walk. At some point, winter will hit Minnesota, so you’ve got to enjoy a day like this whenever you can!
I wasn’t sure there would be much to photograph, but I took my camera anyway. Turns out someone had put food for the birds below a tree, so I settled in to watch and shoot. Seems like a good way to celebrate a holiday. Here’s the best of the bunch.
When I first arrived, there were some Crows there. A red squirrel decided to move in:
There were lots of White-Breasted Nuthatches about as well:
Look out below!
One of my favorite birds was there in abundance–Black-Capped Chickadees. How can you not love Chickadees? Even the name says “love me.”
Merry Christmas!
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