A trip to the zoo, part 1

I deeply apologize for my lack of visits to others, but my cough and sore throat have turned into something much worse.  I have a fever of 100.2 F and I fluctuate between having the chills and perspiring, especially whenever I have a coughing spell.  I have the shakes and can only stand a minute or so.  I also can't sit at this computer chair for any length of time.  Had this post not been in my draft folder, ready to publish, I would not be posting today.

Many of my long term readers and followers remember when I took care of two tweens and a teen after their mother died of breast cancer, and before their aunt who lives in California could come to get them.

They are now two teens and one tween, and they have spent five days with me this last week.  It was actually a surprise, since I had no idea they were coming until their aunt called two nights before they were to arrive.   The youngsters actually asked to visit me during their summer vacation.  Since I am spending time with these youngsters, everything has taken a back set, including art and my blog visits.

I was so excited to see them and they me.  Needless to say, we had a great time.  As I promised their mother before she died, and their aunt, I would never show any part of them on my blog, or mention their names or gender(s).

I'm the Queen of Free, so I decided to take them to one of our newly remodeled parks, where a free zoo had just reopened that spring.  According to news reports, it reopened April 18 of this year.

Although this looked like fun to the kids, they really weren't ready to interact with other families who were enjoying a picnic near the play area.  We decided to visit the zoo first and see if the area would be free of others once we had seen everything at this new zoo/wildlife exhibit.

On our way into the exhibit, I stopped to take this photo.  Although I needed to catch up to the youngsters who had already spotted the birds, I was able to read that it was a photo of Finlay Moss who became mayor of Wichita, KS in 1897, and led the way to the creation of Riverside Park.

We heard the noise before we saw it.   Too bad I shot straight up and found the bird, a turkey buzzard, in silhouette.

When I backed up, and pointed my camera through the fence, this is what I saw.  Different bird, different branch, same loud noise, different perspective, different angle.

Down at ground level, we were treated to a host of animals.

The youngsters were quick to point out when they had found one that came into view, like the turtle that seemed to appear out of nowhere.  I still am not sure what animal was sleeping in the log in the back left of the photo.

I hadn't even noticed the turtles until they were pointed out to me.

It seemed the fences were in focus, but not the birds.

This one flew as soon as I started to take a photo.

At least we now knew what we were looking at.

This one led me on a merry chase with my camera.

Thankfully, s/he

finally landed.

These were new signs recently installed.

The possum is one of two animals we never saw.

At first I thought this was an owl and took an inordinate amount of photos trying to get it to turn its head.

I love these youngsters SO much.  When they saw I was having trouble getting the bird to turn its head, they took turns talking softly to it, never yelling, or trying to frighten it.  I was SO proud of them.

They finally got it to turn its head

and I was surprised it was not the owl I thought it was.

Instead, I believe it's the Swainson's hawk.

This sign is misleading, since the park reopened in April of this year and there was no mention of the remodel.  It is still called the Kansas Wildlife exhibit.  I did learn from one of the volunteers on hand that it sits on the site of the first Wichita Zoo.  It is considered by many who live near the park and who volunteer, to be a piece of living history.   There are eight cages and they contain a red fox, porcupine, mink, and hawks, to name a few.  

The upgrades to the exhibit were made possible by fund raisers, according to the volunteer we spoke with, and got a big boost after their prize bobcat was set free by vandals who broke into the exhibit by cutting through the fence back in 2015.   With the latest upgrades, only native Kansas wildlife and native animals are allowed to live at this exhibit.  We will visit the rest of the zoo/wildlife exhibit tomorrow.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your visit today.  It means a lot to me.