June 17, 2017
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San Diego Zoo -- Birds, Lions, and Elephants
Moving on from the pronghorn exhibit, we walked to the elephant enclosure. On the way, we ran across a couple of interesting birds — one a resident, and the other possibly an interloper. The resident, a Secretary Bird, was fascinating as it sat on its nest. The other, a magpie that looked as if it may have flown in or a visit with Mme. Secretary!
The feathers of the Secretary Bird were intriguing, and showed themselves off in all poses.
And the magpie, more familiar to all of us in North America, has beautiful feathers as well.
Turning and walking a short distance, we passed tapirs and capybaras.
A couple of sleepy lions.
Llamas and alpacas
And the elephant enclosure.
On the left you see a glimpse of the area where the elephants are bathed and their feet are inspected and groomed. The bars keep the animals enclosed while the keepers do their work through the bars. We watched one elephant walk up to the enclosure as if waiting her turn, while we could hear the keepers washing down another elephant in a different section of the exhibit.
By this time, the animals were all moving indoors, and we could only see empty exhibit areas. The keepers were preparing the enclosure for the next day, placing food in bins for the elephants, and adding enticing nibbles to hanging logs to keep the animals curious and alert.
We had hoped to take the sky tram back to the entrance — because of construction, the path was closed, and we had to walk all the way back past the elephant exhibit! One more elephant caught my eye,
And I couldn’t resist the meerkat protecting its hole!
This was a wonderful visit to a world-class zoo — we were tired, but very satified by the time we left.
Moving on from the pronghorn exhibit, we walked to the elephant enclosure. On the way, we ran across a couple of interesting birds — one a resident, and the other possibly an interloper. The resident, a Secretary Bird, was fascinating as it sat on its nest. The other, a magpie that looked as if it may have flown in or a visit with Mme. Secretary!
The feathers of the Secretary Bird were intriguing, and showed themselves off in all poses.
And the magpie, more familiar to all of us in North America, has beautiful feathers as well.
Turning and walking a short distance, we passed tapirs and capybaras.
A couple of sleepy lions.
Llamas and alpacas
And the elephant enclosure.
On the left you see a glimpse of the area where the elephants are bathed and their feet are inspected and groomed. The bars keep the animals enclosed while the keepers do their work through the bars. We watched one elephant walk up to the enclosure as if waiting her turn, while we could hear the keepers washing down another elephant in a different section of the exhibit.
By this time, the animals were all moving indoors, and we could only see empty exhibit areas. The keepers were preparing the enclosure for the next day, placing food in bins for the elephants, and adding enticing nibbles to hanging logs to keep the animals curious and alert.
We had hoped to take the sky tram back to the entrance — because of construction, the path was closed, and we had to walk all the way back past the elephant exhibit! One more elephant caught my eye,
And I couldn’t resist the meerkat protecting its hole!
This was a wonderful visit to a world-class zoo — we were tired, but very satisfied by the time we left.
Comments (9)
I didn't realize magpies were so pretty. There used to be a capybara at the Childrens' Zoo in Ft. Wayne about an hour's drive from here. It swam around in the water surrounding the monkey island. When we took one of our African friends to the zoo, he commented on how good the capybara would taste. I remember a tapir in the kids' petting area at Knott's Berry Farm many years ago. It was quite tame, and would come up to people to be petted. That was in the 60's.
I had seen magpies in the '60's in Seattle, but had forgotten how pretty they are! It was hard to tell apart the tapir and the capybara except by color -- I am a little surprised that your African friend thought the capybara would taste good.
That will secretary bird is awesome.
I like how the baby capybara is snuggled up to the tapir. I guess they are close like family since they are enclosed together.
I loved the secretary bird! The definition in the feathers is outstanding, and the bird has such a colorful personna, even just sitting there! Capybara and Tapir look very similar -- they live in different parts of the world, but must be somehow related!
Zoos are interesting. Love the bird pictures. Don't recall ever seeing a secretary bird.
@slmret: I know Capybara and guinea pigs are related. I've seen pictures of them together before too.
I was a bit surprised by the capybara and the tapir -- they looked like different colors of the same animal, but are apparently very different.
Those two birds!!! ~ wow!
The magpie is absolutely stunning.
The magpie is beautiful -- I had forgotten how blue those feathers are! And the Secretary Bird was also fascinating!
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