Up Close and Personal @ Mogo Zoo

One of the highlights of our trip last weekend was a visit to the Mogo Zoo.

Official animal photos in this link

It was unlike any other zoo I've visited.

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There was a red panda.

 His coat was in the process of shedding.

There were several giant tortoises.

 

We passed by the otters during feeding time.

This otter got a big fish.

This one managed to get two.

I thought the emperor tamarin looked distinguished with his beard.

I picked up the camera when we met the giraffes.

What a joy to have a zoom lens.

I could not help but think that Sister Deer would have loved this zoo.

The zebra were roaming quietly.

 

The lioness and the lion were in a big enclosure together.

The white handed gibbon enjoyed posing.

The rhinoceros was all alone.

I think this was a squirrel monkey.

It seemed keen on getting something from outside its cage.

It would pick up a long stick or a branch, sneak it through the wire,

then scratch intently at the ground. 

MacGyver and I took quite a number of pictures of the silvery gibbons.

It was fun to watch them swing across the ropes.

I was particularly amazed at their furry bottoms.

It spoke heaps of how the animals in this zoo were cared for.

Check out this beautiful tiger,

Aaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!

Yes, I screamed.  I really did.

I picked up this small brown ball from the floor this morning.  Thinking it was a ball bearing that belonged to one of our equipment, I placed it on corner of the kitchen counter for MacGyver to return to its proper place when he woke up.  

When MyGirl came downstairs, I moved to prepare breakfast and glanced towards the kitchen counter.

I screamed because instead of the small brown ball, I saw about a dozen legs moving about.   (I washed my hands promptly after I had finished screaming.)

MyGirl explained it was a slater and calmly got two envelopes to scoop the frightened (not as much as I was, I think) thing out of the house.

(Ohhh!  The thought still makes my hair stand on end.)

The Black Swan

The flower shop at the local mall has a new display window.  I thought it was very pretty.  

I like swans.  I think they are very beautiful creatures.

Little did I know I would have a chance to see one close up.

 

MacGyver and I met up with some friends yesterday.  After having dinner at the mall, we passed by the Bicentennial Park before heading to my friend's house.  My friend who lives near this park showed us the lagoon from which several birds can be spotted.

We chanced upon this black beauty.

It had flown in with some other birds but decided to land in the lagoon.  It was the first time I'd seen a swan fly.  I had almost forgotten that they do.  (My other friend reminded me of the Ugly Duckling.)  

We watched as the swan glided over the water gracefully.  

After a while, it moved to the far end of the lagoon and literally ran over the water and took off in flight.

We spent a long time watching the birds.  Apparently, there is a whole checklist of Birds of Sydney Olympic Park to be found.   

I'm thinking of getting a pair of binoculars.  I'd really love to see these birds close up.

Anyone care to join me?

A Flock of Starlings

If you run a search for "flock of seagulls," you'd get an 80's new wave band.  If you change that and look for "flock of birds," you'd get an English lesson on collective nouns. However, if you check for "flock of starlings,"  you are in for a wonderful surprise.

A flock of starlings is called a MURMURATION, and a murmuration is a sight to behold. 

Have you seen the latest Thor movie?  They featured this phenomenon on a smaller scale version. 

Platypus, Platypus

One of our classmates from High School offered to take us to Taronga Zoo. She said she would be able to get passes that would allow us free entry to the zoo. With adult entry at A$41 each and child at A$20, free entrance was surely welcome.

We hadn't seen her since our first visit in Autumn so we agreed on getting together before Christmas. She said she'd try to get us tickets. We set our reunion for today.

When the plans for the zoo trip were made, MacGyver had not yet taken his driving test. Since fate has made me the designated driver, we decided that we'd drive to my friend's house then take the train to the city and the ferry to the zoo. (If MacGyver were driving, we might have considered driving all the way to the zoo.)

I took more than a couple of wrong turns on our way to my friend's house but since we had left the house a little earlier, we arrived at her place before 8am as agreed. The train ride and the ferry ride were uneventful. We met up with another batchmate and her family at the zoo, and took the cable car for the sky safari.

My friend told us that the zoo is quite big and that it was possible we would not be able to see everything. I reassured her that the younger kids would be happy to see even just a few animals while the 16-year old would be happier still if he didn't have to join us on our trip to begin with. I told her that we would just take the day as it came and if we were tired walking or if we felt it was getting too late, we would simply head for home.

We arrived a little after 10 am and caught the seal show and the bird show. We went around and saw some more animals before taking a late lunch. After lunch, we asked the kids what other animals they wanted to see. Initially we headed towards the nearby BIG CATS but then decided that we should be getting home soon. Were there any other animals they really, really wanted to check out before we left? As expected, the answer was the PLATYPUS. If it was a toss up between the lions and the platypus, RD and MyGirl preferred to see the platypus.

So off towards the platypus we went.

The platypus was on the opposite end from where we were at the time and the heat of the sun was beating down on us. We followed a couple of misleading signs before we finally found the platypus. At a certain point before we reached our destination, GI commented, "They want to see a platypus? I have 20 cents here. They can just check out my coin."

RD and MyGirl were happy. They were able to see the platypus. GI was ecstatic. This meant we could go home soon. (Yes, such enthusiasm, really.)

Before we left, we asked our friend to take a couple of pictures for us.

Yes, of course we had to pose against all the available platypus for photo purposes.

The platypus seems to be Taronga Zoo's signature animal making the trip to the zoo even more thrilling for the younger kids. (Remember Perry?)

We had a fun day at the zoo. I enjoyed it. I think the others did, too. (Even GI the cynic.)