We took a trip to the local zoo with my good friend and her daughter R (and her mom, Grams!). It's a pretty small zoo and has only been around for about 20 years or so, but they have some really nice exhibits. This is the third time this year that we've gone, and we'll probably go a couple more times to get the most out of our membership before we move clear across town. From where we live now it's already a good 25 minutes away...from the new house it will be more like 45!
This was probably the best trip we've taken yet...the weather was absolutely perfect, it wasn't super crowded, and we saw a bunch of animals that we hadn't seen on any previous trips. Plus some other drama!
The flamingos were taking a mid-morning nap.
The snow leopard was also napping. He's one of the animals that we hadn't seen yet.
Mr Porcupine was out and about, also the first time we've met him.
Mr Lion was contemplating the herd beasts on the other side of the fence. Quite a well-worn path he's got there! First time we'd seen him active and up close-ish.
This was AWESOME. A giraffe (young by the size of him) and an ostrich were having an altercation. Lots of kicks from both parties, along with neck swings and wing wavings.
One of the two main attractions for the kids is feeding the giraffes...
"Hey, I want in on this!!"
He's just a tiny bit bigger than they are.
The other big draw is the budgie cage. There's at least thirty of these brightly colored birds in a fairly large cage that you can walk in. They sell sticks coated with birdseed so you can attract birds up close.
Z's doing a good job holding onto this guy!
The budgies were MUCH more active and attractable than usual, as you can see by the three on my arm, one on my head, and another coming in for a landing! I think at one point I had about 7 of them in my hair, on my shoulders, and on my arm. Apparently they were after my sweat...
N was fascinated, until they decided that his head was a perch and started preening his hair. Then he wanted OUT!!
A big thanks to Grams for taking pictures for me so that I could hold N in there!
Later on we took a "train" ride through a big enclosure of ostriches and herd beasts. N snuggled up with Grams so I could keep an eye on wiggle-worm Z. He liked the monkeys we saw on the way into the enclosure.
The highlight of the trip, for me at least, was the baby ostriches.
Can we just say adorable?
We can - and they certainly are. I don't think I've ever seen any that small!
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