Zoo critters.....

I never finished up my zoo trip of last week, so I'll use that today (having nothing else at the moment of interest!)Does this look comfortable???? Maybe I'm just jealous because I'm not that flexible.

Lovely spotted coat on this deer!

Giraffe making funny faces

I really liked the giraffes and zebras....they looked so content and clean.

There were 2 young zebras......one smaller than the other.

They were just very cute :-)

The emu was in the shade....hence the dark photo....and is really in need of a good hair stylist!

Przewalski Horse.....the only remaining true wild horses. They are not feral like mustangs, but have never been domesticated successfully. Also known as Asian or Mongolian Wild Horses. Didn't seem real "wild" but they are in a large area with the deer shown above and some other deer.

This peahen and her babies were in that area, too. We have lots of peacocks at our zoo. I thought it sort of late in the year for babies.

They wanted to explore, but mama didn't want them very far away!

She humored them and moved around a bit following them.

The males are looking rather "tail-less" at the moment, but still manage to have such beauty in their feather variety!

I believe this little prairie dog was standing guard. He was the only one with his head sticking out of a hole.

My niece was thrilled to get up close to him even with glass in between.

We have a large lake at our zoo.....so or course there are always turtle logs!

Not exactly a zoo type critter....but they live at the zoo.

I was disappointed to not find the otters that day and we were too hot to go to the other buildings.....but otherwise it was a nice day at the zoo. Our zoo is very hilly, so you get a good work-out when you cover the whole place! I should do it more often.

Big Birds, Little Birds.....

I thought I'd post assorted birds from this weekend. Some are at the wetlands and some are at home. There are about 60+ geese hanging around the wetlands right now. As night nears, they all get on the boardwalk, leaving a nasty mess to walk through. Here we have Canada Geese, ducks, and Killdeer all getting ready to settle down for the night.

A Great Blue Heron is on the other boardwalk! With the sun going down, I was having light problems.....either too light or too dark!

Up in a tree a couple of doves were getting comfortable and this one was grooming its tail feathers.

The geese were doing all sorts of grooming and posturing.

This one had been splashing around and then raised her wings up.....funny looking!

Either cleaning the tail or doing yoga.....hard to tell :-)

Back home the birds were hanging around the fountains and the birdbath and the feeders.
This titmouse had been drinking.

A Carolina Wren on the deck fountain. I haven't seen my wrens much this summer! Glad to see one, if only briefly!

The chickadee decided to take a bath, after carefully looking around for about 5 minutes.

A finch peering through the honey vine, which is blooming like crazy, making my dead tree look spring-like.

The sparrow's turn to drink. I really need to scrub the frog fountain out! This weather is really making algae grow on it. I try to flush a lot of fresh water into it, and push some of the old water out.

One of the male House Finches at the feeder. My Goldfinches are finally beginning to change to winter color, but I didn't have a good photo to post. I still have hummingbirds.

I can tell that bird activity at home is picking up some. I also saw one of the downys today and of course, cardinals and lots of House Sparrows and doves. Won't be long and I'll be spending a fortune on bird seed again!

Squirrel Sunday.....

Well....since the "Star" is still on strike or vacation I'll tell a story that happened a couple years ago. Unfortunately I have no photos of the ending of the story.

I'll call it "A Tale of Two Characters"

"These were the best of times, these were the worst of times".....oh...wrong story. It starts with the squirrel.....finding the dish feeder hanging in the dogwood tree.

Yummy!....if you brace yourself well, you can eat from anywhere!

Finally he settled on the dish.....tail hanging down.

Right below in the hostas I suddenly realized that I saw an eye......just below the violet. My grey cat, Mouse had been sleeping in the hostas. Now one eye is awake.....

2 eyes and a little nose are now angled upwards!.....watching, waiting....

You can see that my cheeky little "Star" is going out of his way to taunt Mouse! You probably have to click on the photo to see Mouse peering up at that tail....waving.

Mouse is more visible here.....and the tail is closer! Oh, oh....someone is going to get it!
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Well....as you can guess, the squirrel finally noticed Mouse, did a final tail flip and leaped right over Mouse's head and ran across the driveway and up a bigger tree! Mouse didn't even get in motion! The ending was too fast to photograph and I was laughing too much.

Nayah....nayah.....nayah.......I'm sure he'd stick his tongue out if he could.

Poor Mouse!

When do you crop?....How far do you crop?...

A1.) What do you see? This original shot was to show how this yellow butterfly picked the one spot in the whole area that he blended in with perfectly! Next to a yellow leaf! How did he do that?

2. So if I crop down do I lose that perspective? You see the butterfly better, but wasn't the point of the shot that it chose such a perfect spot and isn't that lost now????

I spent a lot of time playing with cropping tonight trying to decide what looked best. I decided to see what the rest of you think and why. Feel free to offer your opinions on any of them.B 1.) This was my original shot. Lots of green setting off the flower and skipper.

2. Cropped down, you see a lot more of the flower, but the skipper lost a bit of crispness. Definitely center stage now! But is it better??

C1.) Love the yellow flowers in this original shot. The flowers definitely are the center of attention!

2. But if the bug is of interest.....cropping off some of the flowers brings it up closer. I personally like the original on this one.

D 1.) I was trying to identify the bird. I like the "fall" look beginning to show in the leaves around him, however.

2. This time I definitely can see the bird better.....the scroungiest looking Mockingbird I've ever seen! He only has one tail feather! I have other shots. I can still see a bit of color behind him.

E1.) This one has 3 stages.....original.

2. Still lots of flower to show what it is, but bug closer.

3. Bug!......but nice yellow still, if less easy to identify.

F1.) This original is basically a flower shot at this point (do you get the feeling that I like these flowers??)

2. Still lots of flower, but I am aware of the bug now.

3. Yellow bug, yellow flowers. I like this one!

G 1.) When I took this, I did not even know the damselfly was in the photo! Do you see it?

2. Now you can see it next to the butterfly on the right. Can't get much closer and have both.

I'm not sure I know any more now than before I started playing, but I at least realize why I did some of them......most of my cropping is sort of instinctive as to what pleases my eye rather than what I want to show someone else :-)