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Andy and I spent yesterday afternoon at the zoo. The plan was to wander, try the new cafeteria, and wander some more.
The new cafeteria is better than what it replaced--not a meal I'd travel for, but acceptable--and I got us the good seats, next to a window where we could watch the flamingos.
After lunch, we went to look at giraffes and okapi. The okapi looks pregnant, which is very good news if true.
And then we went to an obscure corner of the zoo, the "crane walk." A few open-air exhibits, with a couple of cranes in each.
On the first lawn, one of the cranes was sitting, possibly on a nest. We heard someone say so, but didn't see for ourselves.
At the next cage, a pair of Lilford's cranes were calling to each other, an odd clicking sort of sound. Andy suggested that they might be about to dance, so we waited and watched, and were delighted to see the dance. Watched and listened until we noticed that the cranes in the next exhibit--I don't remember their name, but they have improbable pale yellow crests--had started to dance.
It's not easy watching two pairs of cranes dance at the same time, but it was well worth the effort. The first dance was interrupted by a well-meaning person who tossed the birds pieces of bread, distracting them from each other. When they'd eaten it, and started calling again, another visitor started imitating their calls, and I overheard his friend say "I wonder what you're saying to them." I couldn't restrain myself any longer, and pointed out that what he was doing was interrupting their courtship.
He looked startled and abashed, and stopped. They resumed dancing, but seemed happier when we stood in front of the other cage.
We could have spent the whole afternoon there, but wanted to see if yet another pair of cranes, which are kept near the red panda and snow leopard cages, were dancing.
At first glance, we saw no cranes, only a turtle or two in the water, and a nest on the little island in the middle. Then we spotted one crane, way off to the side. Two zoo employees came along then, and I asked one of them how many cranes were in the exhibit. "Two, an adult and a chick."
Cool! Okay, the adult is over there, where might she be hiding a baby bird? It's not next to her feet...Hmm...maybe if I slide over this way...there's what looks almost like a path in the greenery, I don't think I'm supposed to walk up it, but I can lean down and look...
One fluffy crane chick. One *large* fluffy crane chick. I'd been expecting something more newborn-duckling size, but even a crane chick with the baby fluff still on is big as birds go.
Sitting very still--sitting, or maybe kneeling, with its knees extended forward from its body--near its watchful parent, a young crane. I looked for a minute or two, making sure that I really was seeing a bird, then called Andy over. He had to look carefully: sometimes, even knowing where a bird is doesn't help much. But it moved, and there it was.
We'd deliberately carried almost nothing that afternoon, but I would have liked the binoculars, to see if I could make out any details on the baby crane.
The new cafeteria is better than what it replaced--not a meal I'd travel for, but acceptable--and I got us the good seats, next to a window where we could watch the flamingos.
After lunch, we went to look at giraffes and okapi. The okapi looks pregnant, which is very good news if true.
And then we went to an obscure corner of the zoo, the "crane walk." A few open-air exhibits, with a couple of cranes in each.
On the first lawn, one of the cranes was sitting, possibly on a nest. We heard someone say so, but didn't see for ourselves.
At the next cage, a pair of Lilford's cranes were calling to each other, an odd clicking sort of sound. Andy suggested that they might be about to dance, so we waited and watched, and were delighted to see the dance. Watched and listened until we noticed that the cranes in the next exhibit--I don't remember their name, but they have improbable pale yellow crests--had started to dance.
It's not easy watching two pairs of cranes dance at the same time, but it was well worth the effort. The first dance was interrupted by a well-meaning person who tossed the birds pieces of bread, distracting them from each other. When they'd eaten it, and started calling again, another visitor started imitating their calls, and I overheard his friend say "I wonder what you're saying to them." I couldn't restrain myself any longer, and pointed out that what he was doing was interrupting their courtship.
He looked startled and abashed, and stopped. They resumed dancing, but seemed happier when we stood in front of the other cage.
We could have spent the whole afternoon there, but wanted to see if yet another pair of cranes, which are kept near the red panda and snow leopard cages, were dancing.
At first glance, we saw no cranes, only a turtle or two in the water, and a nest on the little island in the middle. Then we spotted one crane, way off to the side. Two zoo employees came along then, and I asked one of them how many cranes were in the exhibit. "Two, an adult and a chick."
Cool! Okay, the adult is over there, where might she be hiding a baby bird? It's not next to her feet...Hmm...maybe if I slide over this way...there's what looks almost like a path in the greenery, I don't think I'm supposed to walk up it, but I can lean down and look...
One fluffy crane chick. One *large* fluffy crane chick. I'd been expecting something more newborn-duckling size, but even a crane chick with the baby fluff still on is big as birds go.
Sitting very still--sitting, or maybe kneeling, with its knees extended forward from its body--near its watchful parent, a young crane. I looked for a minute or two, making sure that I really was seeing a bird, then called Andy over. He had to look carefully: sometimes, even knowing where a bird is doesn't help much. But it moved, and there it was.
We'd deliberately carried almost nothing that afternoon, but I would have liked the binoculars, to see if I could make out any details on the baby crane.