Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

cattitude and I went to the Stone Zoo today because he wanted to see otters.

The otters were fun, but otherwise the visit was disappointing, in part because I walked more than was good for me this particular morning. The zoo is small, but the nearest bus stop is about 3/4 of a mile from the zoo entrance.

My disappointment was less because the zoo was small than because the individual enclosures for the animals are too small. The jaguar is wearing a path in the grass of his enclosure, and no peregrine falcon should be sitting in that small an enclosure. The snow leopard area seemed okay if not large, as did the otter enclosure; both of those at least have a little variety (running water for the otters and an almost-vertical rock face for the snow leopard). The zoo does have some unused space, and some space they're using for non-animal-related rides or seasonal displays, so it looks like they could improve animal living conditions without reducing the number of species they're keeping.

cattitude went to the Woodland Park Zoo this afternoon. After getting our new membership cards (he'd renewed online, but the cards are distributed in person, not mailed), we wandered around a bit. This visit we looked at two kinds of otters, both playing outside, though the North American otters were napping on our first stop; we checked again on our way out and they were very active and playful, in the water, and on land.

Other cool things included the two-toed sloth (which, unlike the three-toed sloth at the Montreal Biodome, is in a small enclosure and not at all difficult to find), an anteater (in a hole in a tree in the same exhibit), and the Komodo dragons. The zoo has one large dragon and two young (born in another zoo in spring 2013), which are being kept in a separate enclosure, possibly to protect them from the adult.

Quite a few of the animals were napping, because it was a warm, sunny afternoon; not too hot for my comfort, though I agreed about the appeal of the shade. We made this a relatively short trip, because my foot started to hurt after a while. One advantage of a membership is that it's easier not to mind the things I don't see on a given visit.

Monday afternoon I went to the Bronx Zoo by myself: it was a gray, chilly day, and as I was walking from the bus to the zoo entrance it started to snow.

There were very few people there. I spent a long time at the tiger exhibit, which I had largely to myself. There are few things cuter than two tigers curled up next to each other on the same rock, but a third tiger trying to insinuate itself between them qualifies. (The zoo currently has four Siberian tigers: three year-old cubs and their mother.)

I also looked at the white-naped cranes, one of which was sitting on a nest; bison (11, all lying down in the more visible front part of their enclosure); and the Pere David deer. Relatively few animals were out, and I didn't stay very long, but it was a nice outing.

Today, cattitude and I went to the zoo together. It was bright and sunny, and significantly warmer, so a lot more animals were out and about; between that and spring break for the local schools, the zoo was also a lot more crowded (though nothing like as full as in summer, or even a weekend in May). On the way in, we asked if the okapis were out, and the cashier told us that it's still too cold, maybe next week.

Since what I'd wanted to see today was basically "Monday plus okapis," I went back to a lot of the same exhibits.

The tigers weren't as active, or as cute, as they had been on Monday, but they were well worth watching, and looked even better in the sunlight. On Monday I took some pictures with my iPod, but suspect none of them are worth trying to massage; today I brought my camera, but haven't copied the photos to this computer. There were a couple of dozen other people at the tiger exhibit today, but still few enough that we got a good look and I didn't feel as though I was being selfish for staying there as long as I wanted.

The cranes were even more fun than on Monday: we spent a while there watching them (and a muskrat on the bank), went across to the snow leopards, and then came back. On our second visit the female crane got up long enough that we could see that she is sitting on two eggs; she rearranged them and the straw around them slightly, then folded herself up again, beak resting on her back.

We also had fun watching the rhinos (in what used to be the elephant enclosure next to Zoo Center).

Sometime in the past four days, a flock of red-winged blackbirds have arrived, and are singing loudly in the trees and shrubs next to the Northern Ponds waterfowl exhibit. There are also a lot of wood ducks this spring.

The Bronx Zoo has a five-month-old okapi, and cattitude and I went to see if she was visible this afternoon. The zoo website warned that the okapi would only be on display until "mid-November" because when it gets cold they have to bring them indoors, and the only okapi viewing area is outdoors in the Congo exhibit.

It turned out to be an excellent day to look at okapi. Reasonably warm (around 60F/15C), with some sunshine and not much wind, and late enough in fall that the trees were mostly bare, so the okapis weren't hidden behind lots of leaves.

( enthusiasm about okapis, cut for length )

cattitude and I went to the Bronx Zoo today: it was pleasantly cool and damp and not very crowded when we got there around 1 p.m., and pleasantly warm and sunny by the time we left.

( chipmunks, okapi, and gawky adolescent birds )

cattitude and I went to the Bronx Zoo today. I walked up to the edge of the lion enclosure to watch them, and a small boy who was standing in front of me looked at me and said "Why do you have a beard?" I said "Because I grew it, the same as anyone else." Then he asked "Why are you a girl?" and I said "You'd have to ask my parents, they made me one." At that point he said something about the gazelles in the area behind the lions, and we both focused on the big cats.

A more accurate answer to the first question would have been "because I'm lazy": shaving is a nuisance and leads to stubble and itching (sometimes itchiness by the end of the same day), and any more permanent hair removal would require me to be sure I wanted it and set aside time (as well as money). But I suspect that was even further from what he was thinking, which probably was in the area of "I thought you couldn't do that."

It was a good day for the zoo in other ways: cool (call it 70F, 21C) and overcast, so a lot of animals were active. The lions were moving around, even chasing each other a bit, as were the gazelles behind them. We spent a while watching the hyraxes in the baboon area. At first they were still and very hard to see: they're almost exactly the color of the rocks. But some of them moved around, and both Cattitude and a woman who was just standing and watching pointed some of them out to me. That was fun; I like hyraxes, in a somewhat intellectual way. (Small, obscure mammals whose closest relatives are elephants.)

We also had fun with snow leopards (again, quite a bit more active than usual) and the white-naped cranes. The young crane looks a lot more like his parents than he did on our last visit: brownish head, and his body feathers are graying, but still a little browner than his parents. Their pond is covered with duckweed, which made a nice contrast.

There were a lot of chipmunks just running around (the zoo is full of them, but we rarely see them, because they tend to stay under cover), and cardinals singing. We also watched the giraffes and ostriches for a bit. Skipped the tigers because I was tired by then. (I decided against going to hang out with elisem and other folks in Greenwich Village, because by the time we got back to Inwood I was tired, and not at all sure I had the energy to go downtown, enjoy hanging out, and get home again. Alas.)

cattitude and I got up fairly early (well, by Sunday standards, which is to say before 8 a.m.) and headed to the zoo a little after ten. Getting there early was nice, because it meant fewer crowds. We didn't try to see everything: just the sea lions, a few minutes someone showing off birds of prey, Madagascar, the Congo, giraffes, and the butterfly garden. One of the butterflies landed on my hand and stayed a minute or so, which is always nice. We also saw a few other birds that were on our way, like the flamingoes. On the way out, having decided to skip Tiger Mountain to save energy, we saw a sign that it is closed indefinitely because of storm damage. So, less than we might have wanted, but we had fun, and got some good photos. (No, my camera doesn't have a manual focus, but I had better angles and got a few reasonable pictures of the okapis.)

Also, having tried putting my new boots on early in the day, I am hopeful: I walked around the apartment a little, and wore them for about 3/4 of an hour, mostly while sitting and playing Scrabble.

I've posted some zoo photos, and a few from the park, to Flickr (rosvicl). ( Two crested couas, one butterfly, and two okapis: )

Most of this I just posted to baaaaabyanimals, but I like them enough to put them in my own journal as well.

Four baby otter photos, taken about ten days ago:

( small otters, large images )

( and a tapir for Timprov )

cattitude and I spent a couple of hours at the Bronx Zoo today. From what the woman at the information desk said, the stories about them having to close exhibits and send animals away may be completely without foundation. They did have only one snow leopard on display, and no red pandas, but those animals are being sent all the way to Central Park, and weren't on the published list of animals being exiled.

We had a good time, and saw baby animals—a tree kangaroo we'd known about, and a litter of otters and some langurs we hadn't—but didn't see the lion cub, who may not have been out in public. We only spent a couple of hours, because it was unseasonably hot, and sunny in the way a Spring day can be when the trees are just starting to leaf out. It was also an excellent day for looking at turtles.

I took my camera, and got some good photos. I've fiddled with some of them, and put a few up on Flickr, but no baby animals yet.

( pictures of animals and plants behind this cut )

cattitude and I spent a couple of hours at the Bronx Zoo today. From what the woman at the information desk said, the stories about them having to close exhibits and send animals away may be completely without foundation. They did have only one snow leopard on display, and no red pandas, but those animals are being sent all the way to Central Park, and weren't on the published list of animals being exiled.

We had a good time, and saw baby animals—a tree kangaroo we'd known about, and a litter of otters and some langurs we hadn't—but didn't see the lion cub, who may not have been out in public. We only spent a couple of hours, because it was unseasonably hot, and sunny in the way a Spring day can be when the trees are just starting to leaf out. It was also an excellent day for looking at turtles.

I took my camera, and got some good photos. I've fiddled with some of them, and put a few up on Flickr, but no baby animals yet.

( pictures of animals and plants behind this cut )