Tag Zoo

Chicago: Below zero temperatures, Polar Bear was happy at the zoo

brilliantviewpoint 6 Comments

4EDAB912-2017-4E62-BC73-BA2875FD89F2This has been a COLD winter in Chicago. In the 20s Fahrenheit, not bad, but below zero temperatures are tough. For those of you who have never experienced below zero wind shield factors, I can tell you that your eyeballs hurt. I highly recommend staying in your warm climate and visiting Chicago in the Spring or Summer.

Yesterday, I took a walk at the zoo. I got a great photo of this polar bear swimming. I believe this was the female, the male was much larger and grumpy. She was trying to coax him into swimming, but he was not interested, so she had the pool to herself.

Here you see the BIG SPLASH when she dove in. Then she was swimming toward me, did her swimmer’s flip, turned around and re-circled the pool. After all this exercise, I could tell she was going to sleep very well.

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Next, I saw the penguins. These three were charming. Looked like a child trying to convince his Mom/Dad to let him go out and adventure, the father saying, “ABSOLUTELY NOT, and the mother winking to the child and working her magic on the father to let the child go.”

I must tell you, penguins do waddle in a very cute way. I also noticed that they each have a “distinct” waddle and some jump a lot while they walk, others do not.

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Finally, the lion. He was out. I went inside the lion building and it was SO HOT, I think he must have come outside to “cool off” from the unbearable heat inside.

I hope this makes you smile!

It’s March, the birds are chirping, Spring is ALMOST here!

When you need writing inspiration, take a walk in the Zoo!

brilliantviewpoint 16 Comments

1666711D-6630-40D2-8E8E-8C0F71F8D979I love Fall, it’s such a great time of year. Yesterday, I went for a walk and I ended up at the zoo. It was a blustery day as Pooh Bear would say. I needed inspiration for my writing and taking a walk always helps clear the mind and offers new ideas.

I found this lion photo amusing. So, the male is sleeping while the female watches out for danger. From time to time, the male lion did lift his head to ROAR, and boy was it loud. I was in the gift shop when I heard him. He went on a few times. I rushed to the door thinking I would see him on top of the rock where the lioness was sitting. You know, letting the entire zoo know he was in charge. No such luck.

As I continued my walk I got a good shot of the zebra.

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I think you might enjoy this quick video of the Japanese Macaque.

Would love to hear where you go walking for inspiration.

Dedication to an “Official Baker to the Zoo”

brilliantviewpoint 15 Comments

E2828475-842A-4F55-A342-262E663B6271I saw this wonderful dedication that I wanted to share with you. It’s from a small zoo in Indiana. Normally, a dedication on a bench is very simple with just a person’s name. However, this was more interesting. It caught my attention, because it was in appreciation of a man who “baked goods” for the zoo.

This made me wonder if he had children and if it was a family event to bake and deliver goods to the zoo on the weekend. Now, the zoo looks very small. There were hardly any animals there, but in the old days if he was an “official baker,” going to this zoo must have been a family outing.

A little bit of history.

I hope this makes you smile, like it did for me!

Beware of a Peacock during mating season…

brilliantviewpoint 8 Comments

FullSizeRenderRecently, I went to a zoo. The first animal (bird) I saw was the Peacock. He is allowed to roam freely on the grounds and was toward the entry way. When I first saw him, he was walking back and forth making very loud squawking sounds. Not an attractive sound. If I was his Peacock wife, I would definitely get annoyed!

I was hoping he would open his feathers, but he did not. So, I continued on my viewing journey. Ten minutes later, I heard the Peacock yelling again and banging something. It was really loud. I walked over to see what he was doing.

I found him by the Pepsi Machine. He kept squawking and hitting his beak against the machine. At first, it was funny, it seemed like he was trying to get a soda for himself.  Then someone came by and said it was mating season and he sees his reflection in the Pepsi machine. He thinks it is another rival Peacock, so he gets aggressive in wanting to attack him or rather “himself.”

FullSizeRender 7In second photo, he’s resting his beak and getting ready for a “full on attack” of the machine. He did this for over 15 minutes. His beak must have been sore. You can see he is not happy! It takes a lot of energy to fight “yourself.” (A bit of a pun, but you know what I mean.)

Being curious, I did a Google search and found this article on the UK’s “Daily Mirror,” called, “Peacock causes thousands of pounds of damage to cars and shop windows – by attacking its own reflection,” by Andy Jehring, July 27, 2015.

Good article, gives an insight into a Peacock’s personality. They have BIG egos! Reminds me of a few “human guys” I know.  (Just kidding… well, sort of!)