Bronx Zoo, with bonus hummingbirds

cattitude and I went to the Bronx Zoo this afternoon. We set out late enough that we left because they were closing, and didn't get to see the emus on the way out because that path was already shut; usually we leave because we've walked ourselves out.

We did get to see the three things we'd decided were essential: tigers, okapi, and otters. We spent a nice long while in "Tiger Mountain," watching two of the tigers walk around, watch something we couldn't see, and carefully not quite interact but walk close to each other. One of the tigers rolled in the water for a little bit, maybe to chase off insects. Most of the small children who were there wanted a good look at the fish in the tigers' pool.

The area that used to be the cheetah, okapi, and giraffe exhibits is closed off. The cheetah part has a sign saying that African wild dogs will be living there in the Spring; the okapi area is just fenced off; the giraffes have been moved away (maybe to their indoor winter quarters) but with no sign saying so, and the exhibit sign about giraffes is still there. There are okapi in the Congo gorilla exhibit, though, or at least an okapi. She was quite active, trotting around her clearing: some of that may have been general high energy on a warm but not hot afternoon, and some of it seemed to be, again, trying to shake off the flies. But we watched the okapi until she went behind a huge tree trunk and didn't come back out, then looked through the rest of that exhibit.

The otters are in the children's zoo. They were as active as we've ever seen them, and not just chasing each other through the water. They ran side-by-side. They poked their heads out of their log and made squeaking noises. They attempted to get through the door of their enclosure. And yes, they swam. We spent a good long while with them, as well.

There are still paired colonies of monk parrots, one nesting in a wire-mesh cage and the other in a tree very close to that cage. Monk parrots are sociable, and thus consider that the best place to build your nest is where other parrots have built theirs; thus, one of the few feral colonies of these birds in the area has found, and settled next to, the zoo's colony. The cage is now also home to some rather impressive silver pheasants. The zoo volunteers I asked about them told me their name and agreed with me that there should be a sign identifying them, because everyone asks her that. She also complimented my frog shirt--lots of different-colored frogs on a bright yellow background. The lemurs were also very bouncy. When we first got to that cage, we saw one lemur on a branch, then something happened, and there were suddenly four lemurs there. After a minute, two of them ran off again.

We walked past one of the two flamingo exhibits, the one that has plenty of room for them to swim around and a variety of other birds that just show up, mostly mallards and Canada geese, just as one of the zookeepers was coming out to feed them. As she came through in her waders, the flamingoes moved away from her, and the mallards and geese moved toward her. The flamingoes have a low, narrow island--almost a sandbar--and it turned out that they were nesting at one end of it. As the woman got closer, four of the flamingoes puffed their feathers up in a fairly impressive display. It failed to deter her, of course; two of the flamingoes then sat back down on nests, covering the eggs, while the other two continued to display.

The snow leopards were napping, but the white-naped crane across the road from them was standing in plain sight, and periodically making a sort of "awwk" call. While we were in there, we saw two hummingbirds fly overhead, one behind the other; we didn't get enough details to identify them in the bird book, but they're still hummingbirds.

Also, the area between "zoo center" and the sea lion pool is under construction; the promise there is a Madagascar exhibit.

Bronx Zoo, with bonus hummingbirds

cattitude and I went to the Bronx Zoo this afternoon. We set out late enough that we left because they were closing, and didn't get to see the emus on the way out because that path was already shut; usually we leave because we've walked ourselves out.

We did get to see the three things we'd decided were essential: tigers, okapi, and otters. We spent a nice long while in "Tiger Mountain," watching two of the tigers walk around, watch something we couldn't see, and carefully not quite interact but walk close to each other. One of the tigers rolled in the water for a little bit, maybe to chase off insects. Most of the small children who were there wanted a good look at the fish in the tigers' pool.

The area that used to be the cheetah, okapi, and giraffe exhibits is closed off. The cheetah part has a sign saying that African wild dogs will be living there in the Spring; the okapi area is just fenced off; the giraffes have been moved away (maybe to their indoor winter quarters) but with no sign saying so, and the exhibit sign about giraffes is still there. There are okapi in the Congo gorilla exhibit, though, or at least an okapi. She was quite active, trotting around her clearing: some of that may have been general high energy on a warm but not hot afternoon, and some of it seemed to be, again, trying to shake off the flies. But we watched the okapi until she went behind a huge tree trunk and didn't come back out, then looked through the rest of that exhibit.

The otters are in the children's zoo. They were as active as we've ever seen them, and not just chasing each other through the water. They ran side-by-side. They poked their heads out of their log and made squeaking noises. They attempted to get through the door of their enclosure. And yes, they swam. We spent a good long while with them, as well.

There are still paired colonies of monk parrots, one nesting in a wire-mesh cage and the other in a tree very close to that cage. Monk parrots are sociable, and thus consider that the best place to build your nest is where other parrots have built theirs; thus, one of the few feral colonies of these birds in the area has found, and settled next to, the zoo's colony. The cage is now also home to some rather impressive silver pheasants. The zoo volunteers I asked about them told me their name and agreed with me that there should be a sign identifying them, because everyone asks her that. She also complimented my frog shirt--lots of different-colored frogs on a bright yellow background. The lemurs were also very bouncy. When we first got to that cage, we saw one lemur on a branch, then something happened, and there were suddenly four lemurs there. After a minute, two of them ran off again.

We walked past one of the two flamingo exhibits, the one that has plenty of room for them to swim around and a variety of other birds that just show up, mostly mallards and Canada geese, just as one of the zookeepers was coming out to feed them. As she came through in her waders, the flamingoes moved away from her, and the mallards and geese moved toward her. The flamingoes have a low, narrow island--almost a sandbar--and it turned out that they were nesting at one end of it. As the woman got closer, four of the flamingoes puffed their feathers up in a fairly impressive display. It failed to deter her, of course; two of the flamingoes then sat back down on nests, covering the eggs, while the other two continued to display.

The snow leopards were napping, but the white-naped crane across the road from them was standing in plain sight, and periodically making a sort of "awwk" call. While we were in there, we saw two hummingbirds fly overhead, one behind the other; we didn't get enough details to identify them in the bird book, but they're still hummingbirds.

Also, the area between "zoo center" and the sea lion pool is under construction; the promise there is a Madagascar exhibit.

Shoulder: getting stronger

I just did my rotator cuff strengthening exercises, and decided to try doing all of them with the green band, which has more resistance. This after doing 30 or so of the two I'd been doing with that band the longest, the row-style and the one that the PT described as "like you were going to punch someone." The sideways toward my stomach, I did 30. Sideways away from my body, 21. And the up-and-across that the PT described as being most like what we actually use shoulders for, 20. I suspect that, with a different ordering, I might have done 30 of that, and fewer of another.

(Twenty is my benchmark because it's how many repetitions of related exercises the physical therapists usually have me do in the office, for whichever subset of the exercises any given PT does on any given visit.)

Shoulder: getting stronger

I just did my rotator cuff strengthening exercises, and decided to try doing all of them with the green band, which has more resistance. This after doing 30 or so of the two I'd been doing with that band the longest, the row-style and the one that the PT described as "like you were going to punch someone." The sideways toward my stomach, I did 30. Sideways away from my body, 21. And the up-and-across that the PT described as being most like what we actually use shoulders for, 20. I suspect that, with a different ordering, I might have done 30 of that, and fewer of another.

(Twenty is my benchmark because it's how many repetitions of related exercises the physical therapists usually have me do in the office, for whichever subset of the exercises any given PT does on any given visit.)

I think this is maturity, or something in view of it

I'm annoyed at someone over on statements for making what struck me as a thoughtless remark, and when I called him on it, saying something along the lines of "I don't care if you think I meant that even nastier than it reads" rather than clarifying what he actually meant. (I'm assuming for the moment that his original intent wasn't hurtful.)

I briefly found myself thinking of posting something along the lines of "I hope something makes you understand how that felt." But I don't. I can't even wish I was still in a mindset where I wanted him to think that. Because it would do me no good, and probably neither teach him anything emotionally useful nor get him to stop making that sort of casually hurtful remark; and because I rather like being who I am, and while anger has its places and its uses, I have quite enough anger already.

I think this is maturity, or something in view of it

I'm annoyed at someone over on statements for making what struck me as a thoughtless remark, and when I called him on it, saying something along the lines of "I don't care if you think I meant that even nastier than it reads" rather than clarifying what he actually meant. (I'm assuming for the moment that his original intent wasn't hurtful.)

I briefly found myself thinking of posting something along the lines of "I hope something makes you understand how that felt." But I don't. I can't even wish I was still in a mindset where I wanted him to think that. Because it would do me no good, and probably neither teach him anything emotionally useful nor get him to stop making that sort of casually hurtful remark; and because I rather like being who I am, and while anger has its places and its uses, I have quite enough anger already.