Watching this tiger pacing and yowling has distressed me in past trips to the zoo.. Until yesterday that’s all that I’ve ever seen him do. So seeing him relaxed on that platform was nice, even if he did yowl a bit.
I do force myself to walk the rest of the zoo, instead of spending all my time at the orangutan enclosure. And in doing that I sometimes notice an animal, or in this case a bird, that I hadn’t noticed before. It’s a Black Spur-winged goose, called such because of a spur on it’s wing that can actually be poisonous. Who would have thought that?
Just ducks I know, but I liked the color here.This elephant is taking a dust bath, doesn’t that sound like fun?The whole giraffe, not the easiest shot to get. Plus a zebra.This is a Schmidt’s red-tailed guenon. I love his little heart shaped nose.This family was enjoying an encounter with an Alhabra Giant tortoise. I was frustrated with out limited view. I wonder how that photographer’s photos turned out.This is a yellow-billed stork. I thought this orangutan was hiding it’s face completely, until I got the photo into the computer. She was keeping an eye on us.
You know I was looking for orangutans at the zoo on Monday. I especially wanted to see if we could see changes in the newest little baby, but on our first go-round we never did see the mom and baby, so contented ourselves with the antics of the bigger babies. But before we left we came back to the orangutans, and this time not only were mom and baby there, but she moved out into the light and seemed to display him to us as any proud mama might do. I have barely looked at any non-orangutan pictures so far, so forgive me the orangutan overload. I can’t help myself.
He has gotten a lot more interested in the world around him, or so I thought. I’m sure I’ll be back in a few more weeks so we can watch him as he grows…
Suppose you were just not in the mood to go out early for the sunrise, or out to walk in the woods with friends even though you know you’d have fun. And suppose this little guy was available for a photo shoot. Now what would you do?
It’s called right place, right time. Sometimes you just get lucky.
What started out to be a potentially futile trip out to the sunset on Wednesday night turned out to be a wake-up call. After all there was no guarantee that the sunset would be a good one, and/or that my view would be decent, because I was headed out to try for the ‘shipwreck’ against a sunset sky. But not only was there a promise of some color, but I also met a biker who is on a journey inspired by what God has done for him in his life, and who is on a trip to the four corners of the country to spread his story and hopefully inspire others with their own personal struggles. I realized that it’s been a long time since I met someone and heard their story while I was out taking pictures.
James Rice is his name, and he said he was riding past on his Harley when he noticed the ship and the sunset and stopped to take pictures. I was happy to see that no one had parked on the tail of the boat, giving us a little leeway for photos, and the woman who had parked close to the front had moved her car a few feet over when I asked her to. So I told Jimmy that he could be my bouncer because it was going to be a while until the actual sunset and I was sure that other people would would try to pull in and park. And they did, but they moved when asked nicely. I was more surprised when a couple of young people climbed aboard the boat and settled down to watch the sunset. By then another photographer had joined us and he said, “I guess I’ll have to try again tomorrow”, but I figured the heck with that, and yes, they also moved. What a nice trip out that night turned out to be, for entirely different reasons than I expected. I will think of Jimmy and pray that he stays safe as he travels and shares his story.
That is the name of the river that we see from this bridge. I named this post for the river just to see if I could spell it correctly without looking. I couldn’t, I gave it two Ts. Close but no cigar. Trying to spell the name of the river was the most excitement of the day so far. Even though the water was nice and still and ripe for some great reflections, but that didn’t happen. So I amused myself by trying to capture the swirling flock of birds as they landed on the wire, but they were just a blur of gray in the sky. Picking and choosing what day to head out early hasn’t been working out so well lately. Guess I need to rise and shine every day. A resolution? Probably not, but it sounds good.
Robins, big deal, right? But not in Florida. Not when you have just started taking pictures daily and consequently you do notice when a flock of robins land. And you realize that you don’t see them all the time. And they proceed to splash around in the lake in your (now former) backyard. But I did see them land in this park that I now call home the other day. And I hear them. They are on the ground, in the trees, and in the air. So everywhere basically. And I’ll take pictures because they will move on before too long. I don’t see how you can pay attention to nature and not know deep down that there really is a God…
