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We visited the Woodland Park Zoo this afternoon, and bought annual memberships on the way out. (Like the Bronx Zoo, they let you apply that day's admission charge to the annual fee.)
We started with the jaguar exhibit, because we wanted to see the cubs. Almost started—the penguin enclosure was en route, and our attention was caught by a very impressive blue heron standing on the tallest bit of rock there. I stopped to look, and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cattitude noticed another non-penguin. One of the volunteers told us that it's a brown booby (Sula leucogaster), which had caught a ride on a ship to Seattle, and was offered to the zoo. Like the heron, it is not caged and has complete, healthy wings. They both could fly off at any time, but appear to be staying because they have access to the penguins' fish supply. (I have posted a query to the LJ ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
birdlovers community, asking for opinions on whether that sort of volunteer long-term visitor should count for my life list.)
The jaguars—mother and two cubs—were in fact very cute. Everyone (except a few small children, until corrected by their parents) formed a neat line, and walked along the edge of the exhibit toward the jaguars. (I got a nice view of one of the cubs before we got to the end where all three cats were.)
The Woodland Park Zoo also has a superior exhibit of river otters: they have a good-sized pool to swim in, with one glass wall, set up so visitors can watch the otters from the side, not just from above. The otters (two) were very active, and very cute. Other high points included the hippos, which were just lying in the water when we got there, and then started moving around, first surfacing partway, then swimming closer to us and deeper in their pool; I got to watch them from above, through a few inches of water. I just stood there and smiled for a while.
We haven't seen everything; that, along with how good the otter exhibit was, is part of why we joined. (If we go twice by the end of July 2014, it will be cheaper than paying full price for each visit.) It also just feels right to be zoo members; our membership in the Bronx Zoo expires on Wednesday, and we won't be renewing that while we live in Seattle.
We started with the jaguar exhibit, because we wanted to see the cubs. Almost started—the penguin enclosure was en route, and our attention was caught by a very impressive blue heron standing on the tallest bit of rock there. I stopped to look, and
cattitude noticed another non-penguin. One of the volunteers told us that it's a brown booby (Sula leucogaster), which had caught a ride on a ship to Seattle, and was offered to the zoo. Like the heron, it is not caged and has complete, healthy wings. They both could fly off at any time, but appear to be staying because they have access to the penguins' fish supply. (I have posted a query to the LJ birdlovers community, asking for opinions on whether that sort of volunteer long-term visitor should count for my life list.)The jaguars—mother and two cubs—were in fact very cute. Everyone (except a few small children, until corrected by their parents) formed a neat line, and walked along the edge of the exhibit toward the jaguars. (I got a nice view of one of the cubs before we got to the end where all three cats were.)
The Woodland Park Zoo also has a superior exhibit of river otters: they have a good-sized pool to swim in, with one glass wall, set up so visitors can watch the otters from the side, not just from above. The otters (two) were very active, and very cute. Other high points included the hippos, which were just lying in the water when we got there, and then started moving around, first surfacing partway, then swimming closer to us and deeper in their pool; I got to watch them from above, through a few inches of water. I just stood there and smiled for a while.
We haven't seen everything; that, along with how good the otter exhibit was, is part of why we joined. (If we go twice by the end of July 2014, it will be cheaper than paying full price for each visit.) It also just feels right to be zoo members; our membership in the Bronx Zoo expires on Wednesday, and we won't be renewing that while we live in Seattle.