Fun animals at Zoo Tampa in late February. The weather was cool so many of the animals were moving around. This was the first time in a long time I’ve seen the bears playing together.
The eagle was stretching and you can see he has part of his wing missing. He was injured out in the wild and lives at the zoo now. The other eagle was sitting high up in the tree looking over the zoo.
The lorikeets were all flirting and preening.
I can’t go to the zoo and not take a ton of manatee pictures.
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.
A mallard was stealing food from the primates.
I love seeing the marabou storks.
A wild egret high up in a tree.
One of the resident eagles who’s missing a wing sits high up in a tree as well. He hops along the big oak tree until he can see over the exhibit.
The lorikeets were flirting.
Beautiful faces in the aviaries.
The manatees were eating close to the glass. It was fun watching them up close but it’s sad that there are so many here right now rehabilitating in the manatee hospital Most of these guys will be released once they are well enough. Many are here due to boat strikes or getting sick from the cold water or red tide.
Lots of pretty flowers at the Naples Botanical Gardens.
Lots of little critters too.
Shots of the gardens during our long weekend in Naples for a staycation in late May.
The one picture I took at the Naples Zoo above. A statue of a turtle in the ocean made out of recycled plastic which was cool. I didn’t love the zoo. It was a few minutes from our hotel so we stopped in before lunch. I felt like you couldn’t see the animals very well based on how they had the exhibits set up. You had to wait in line to board a small boat to cruise around a small pond to see the primates. You couldn’t just walk around and view them. It was too hot to wait so we left. We are spoiled living so close the Tampa zoo which is soooo much better.
Same tree, different colors.
Just a small sampling of the lights and entertainment at Zoo Tampa during their “Christmas In the Wild” nights.
You could still see a lot of the animals in their homes. A few of the nocturnal animals that you rarely see moving during the day were also moving around.
The trees over the alligator exhibit were full of ibis, snowy egrets and great egrets sleeping. There were 100’s of them. It was pretty crazy to see them in the dark.
Afterward we stopped at our local Chik Fil A to get milkshakes, even though it was cold outside (Florida cold means it was 50 degrees).
Linking to Wednesday Around The World.
One last look at the baby blue herons growing up at the bird rookery at Zoo Tampa.
Linking to Wednesday Around the World.
The juvenile little blue heron above was testing out his wings. He was a little wobbly as he moved from branch to branch and he was flapping hard. I don’t think he was quite ready to take off yet but soon. I like the way you can see his bones in his wings. He’s still got some pin feathers underneath there.
The ones above are still too young to be off moving around yet. They must have been the last ones born later this spring.
There was still a tiny one. A very late tricolored heron baby with his parent were on the other side of the alligator exhibit at Lowry Park Zoo. Another great wild baby bird season is coming to a close at the zoo.
