At the zoo (the second night)

The first night my friend Sally and I went to the zoo, we took the tram.  The second night we walked.  And walked.  And walked.

I had to make a stop before we went to the zoo which didn't take as long as I anticipated.  As a consequence, we got to the zoo before it opened.  Of course, that just meant I had time to find a bit of shade and take a few photos. 

Perhaps you can see the line of people waiting to get into the zoo.  Again, this looks like a botanical garden rather than a zoo.

Sally had read the proposed county budget had gotten rid of a huge portion of promised funding for the zoo, and she wanted to do her part by buying a membership. 

As an update, we just learned the county commissioners have approved the new budget which severely limits the funds originally promised the zoo.  I suspect we'll soon see an increase in ticket prices.

She filled out the membership form, then they took her picture for her "badge."

In the meantime, I took photos of the art created by the elephants.  Stephanie is no longer alive, so I suspect her "art" is more valuable than that created by Cinda.  I still prefer the chimp art I showed the first zoo post over anything the elephants paint.

As we walked into the park, I was drawn to this area I had photographed the previous week.  So many more plants were blooming as opposed to only one the previous week.

Another look at the map showed we were on our way to Africa.

I may not know a leopard from a tiger, but I know these beauties when I see them.

They are a favorite of many, including many of my readers who were here with me last time when I photographed them on the tram.

Then I made a HUGE mistake.  Sally asked if we should go through those doors and visit Australia.  I said "why not."  Biggest mistake I could have made,

because for nearly two hours, we walked and walked and wound our way around this very small area that contained thousands of birds.

Birds I'd never heard of

or seen before.

Birds Sally talked to while I spent lots of time trying to get a decent photo.
And this was just the FIRST bird we saw.  We were in for a long, long night.

At least there were placards that told what we were looking at.

Each bird species was enclosed in its own area, and I could identify them and not feel like a fool calling them something they were not.

However, when I turned the corner, I immediately knew what I was looking at.

After all, I had created a spread about the beautiful black swan in the altered book I'm currently working in.

I got extremely excited and took several photos, even though none of them turned out as well as I had hoped.

I'll leave you with these photos of the black swan, indigenous to Australia and the very first I've seen in reality.

Thanks for joining me on this voyage through Australia, which is all about birds, birds, and more birds.  I'll show more as I get them off my camera.  Did I mention there would be more birds?