Quick walk at the zoo

Posted on March 21, 2020 by dinajohnston

I rarely see these guys moving around.

The koala bears are so cute but the glare on window makes it impossible to get a decent picture of them.

The elephants were eating.

It’s rare to see the otters close to the glass but this one was right in front.

The rhino pausing at the pool.

More up close with the manatees. I always take a ton of pictures when I’m there.

I recently hurt my shoulder (tendonitis) and was hurting one weekend but I still wanted to get out for a walk so I went over to the zoo with only my phone. I had a fun morning running around without all of my camera stuff.

Up close with some beauties.

Posted on March 14, 2020 by dinajohnston

Spoonbills going about their day in the big aviary at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park.

A few other birds in the aviary includes a little blue heron and green herons.

More from MOTE Aquarium

Posted on January 28, 2020 by dinajohnston

It’s not often you get this close to a shark. Above are some of the bigger things under water at MOTE Aquarium in Sarasota.

The Aquarium rehabilitates and houses permanently injured turtles, manatees and dolphins. The turtle above was missing an eye.

We don’t have crocodiles in the Tampa Bay area, at least not yet. They can be found in areas much farther south including the Everglades. I’ve never seen one out in wild. They look very comical, almost like a cartoon.

Pretty flowers in the water at aquarium.

Hanging with the spoonies

Posted on November 26, 2019 by dinajohnston

The roseate spoonbills that live at the Florida Aquarium have a big aviary to hang out in. Early in the morning if you get there when they first open, the spoonbills usually hang out right up front, at the edge of the water in the exhibit. It was quiet and they were running around feeding and squabbling over the best spots. As the aquarium gets busy the spoonbills fly up in the trees and nap. It’s cool to see these beautiful birds up close.

Big things swimming by.

Posted on November 12, 2019 by dinajohnston

I love seeing the big sting rays at the aquarium. It’s funny how they have faces underneath. I think that first one was smiling at me.

It’s fun to watch the kids go crazy over the sharks. You get to see them close up.

A turtle cruising by.

There’s something hypnotic about watching the fish swim by.

More fun from my September visit to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa.

Zoo Tampa in early June

Posted on July 30, 2019 by dinajohnston

Fun at the zoo in early June. The manatees are back at the zoo which is good and bad thing. The zoo has been updating their water system in the manatee hospital so any injured manatees had to go to Homosassa Springs for rehabilitation for 6 months. Now that the manatee hospital is updated they can take in injured manatees. The bad thing is that the manatees have to be here at all. It’s great that visitors can see these big guys up close and that the zoo treats them but it’s sad that so many are injured due to boat strikes or sick from red tide.

On top of the manatee pool, a few juvenile blue herons are learning how to catch their own fish. These were all probably born in the nests over the alligator exhibit next door.

Vultures were drying off in the bear exhibit. They do this in the morning to easily warm their body up. Not sure why, it was already 85 degrees at 10am. The bear eventually came over to check them out. The vultures didn’t fly off but just moved over. They didn’t seem to scared of the bear.

The last of the wild baby blue heron birds that were growing up over the alligator exhibit.

Photographing New Zealand

Yoga at the zoo

Posted on February 9, 2019 by dinajohnston

The week before Christmas I attended yoga at Zoo Tampa. It was on an early Saturday morning. The weather was perfect. They had a few animals show up before we started. There was a goat but he took off before I could get a picture. Santa also showed up for a visit.

My new yoga buddy.

The view from my yoga mat.

After yoga I walked around the zoo for a while.

Winter at the zoo

Posted on January 19, 2019 by dinajohnston

The baby primates are growing up quickly, out playing on their own.

I caught the youngest elephants playing a while before they noticed someone else was watching them. It was great to see them running around, playing together.

A lazy one.

A hooded merganser couple swimming close to the glass in the manatee exhibit. It’s rare to see them this close.

It’s nice to go the the zoo when the weather is cool. The animals are active and I don’t feel like I’m going to pass out.

Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake City

Posted on December 3, 2018 by dinajohnston

So many cool birds at the Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake City. Our hotel was close by so we stopped by for a quick walk around to see the birds before checking into our hotel. We had fun seeing all of the different ducks and birds including the golden eagle in the bottom picture. We don’t have goldens in Florida so it was a chance to see one up close. Many of the birds are permanently injured and live here now including the bald eagle. All of the animals looked well fed, clean and happy.

A wild white pigeon was looking for a handout.

The squirrel was stealing the duck food in the open pond.

We had an hour to kill before we could check into our hotel so we spent it walking around outside at the aviary.

Our World Tuesday Graphic image-in-ing: weekly photo linkup

Zoo baby explosion

Posted on August 13, 2018 by dinajohnston

Zooming in on the marabou stork babies at Zoo Tampa (formerly Lowry Park Zoo). They are born looking like old birds. Reminds me of the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button where Benjamin ages in reverse and is born an old person and then turns young. Only these birds look old their entire lives.

A new baby out in the African exhibit staying close to Mom.

The fuzzy white thing is a baby Colobus monkey. So cute and easy to spot. The keeper said that the entire group helps raise the baby so the baby was comfortable moving around with all of them.