Zoo, with seasonal notes

cattitude and I went to the Bronx Zoo today. Several areas are closed, in some cases with signs explaining that they're rebuilding, and some others have signs explaining that the animals are indoors. It's a nice enough day that we mostly preferred to wander outside, pointing out clusters of snowdrops to each other, rather than go in and look at animals. We did walk through one of the bird buildings, where we were particularly pleased by young scarlet ibises, just growing their first scarlet feathers against the dark brown they started with.

The Crane Walk has been taken out entirely; we need to find out where all the cranes are now. (The pair of cranes across from the Himalayan Highlands exhibit were home, as usual, and not yet dancing.) The tigers were happily walking and bouncing around, and one spent a bit of time half in their fishpond. The snow leopards were napping in the sunlight, one of them right against the near edge of her enclosure, so we got an excellent view of her.

The redwing blackbirds are back, as is at least one catbird. We also saw several robins, some real sparrows (as distinct from the English/house sparrows that are so common in New York City), and plenty of ducks, peacocks, and Canada geese. One patch of daffodils had opened, and the forsythia look as though they need only two or three more warm days in order to bloom. There are plenty of dandelions in bloom in the lawn at the Botanical Garden.

Zoo, with seasonal notes

cattitude and I went to the Bronx Zoo today. Several areas are closed, in some cases with signs explaining that they're rebuilding, and some others have signs explaining that the animals are indoors. It's a nice enough day that we mostly preferred to wander outside, pointing out clusters of snowdrops to each other, rather than go in and look at animals. We did walk through one of the bird buildings, where we were particularly pleased by young scarlet ibises, just growing their first scarlet feathers against the dark brown they started with.

The Crane Walk has been taken out entirely; we need to find out where all the cranes are now. (The pair of cranes across from the Himalayan Highlands exhibit were home, as usual, and not yet dancing.) The tigers were happily walking and bouncing around, and one spent a bit of time half in their fishpond. The snow leopards were napping in the sunlight, one of them right against the near edge of her enclosure, so we got an excellent view of her.

The redwing blackbirds are back, as is at least one catbird. We also saw several robins, some real sparrows (as distinct from the English/house sparrows that are so common in New York City), and plenty of ducks, peacocks, and Canada geese. One patch of daffodils had opened, and the forsythia look as though they need only two or three more warm days in order to bloom. There are plenty of dandelions in bloom in the lawn at the Botanical Garden.