Zoo Pictures! (AKA Long and Photo intensive post)

We made it to the zoo yesterday. The weather co-operated and we had a great time. We deliberately took the Metro to DC instead of driving as Mehul enjoys the ride and is *very* into Trains and Trucks rightnow. Though he wasn't as impressed as I thought he would be. He loves seeing trains approaching from outside, not so much the ride itself.

Anyhow, since we were there last year, National Zoo has built the Asia Trail. I think it was opened last September. The Giant Panda trail is a part of it now. They also have Sloth Bears which are quite common in India. This time we saw the Red Panda again. We have gone to the zoo atleast once every year ever since we've lived here in VA, and had only seen the Red Panda once before. Another animal we have only seen once are the Golden Tamarind Monkeys - they still weren't there this time.

Mandatory Giant Panda Photo first

They are always so far away, it's hard to get a good picture. This is Tian Tian (I'm pretty sure).

Cute Red Panda

Sloth Bear Statue

- Their expression is curiously alike.


How cute is the Chimpanzee!


They've also added a brand new Kid's Animal Farm.


Pizza Garden! This is new as well. So many changes in less than an year.


Invertebrae section. I just LOVE sea life.

The Corals

I messed up the setting of the camera after taking coral photos and it started taking really fuzzy pictures inside the exhibit. It was just fine outside. There were these really cute, really transparent jellyfish - without the tentacles, whose veins shimmered with Blue, red dots as water traveled through them. No pictures, sorry :(

Butterfly!

DH took this picture of a butterfly in action. So vibrant.

Komodo Dragon.

Totally cute. Loved having his pictures taken :)


After this, on to the Olmstead Walk. This is where the birds are. They have 2 sections - Indoor Bird House and Outdoor Bird Cage. The outdoor area was closed by the time we reached so we missed seeing the Flamingos, Storks, etc. I had taken great pictures of Flamingos previously and was looking forward to getting some with my DSLR. Oh, well. There's always next time :)

Seals and Sea Lions

- They are the last thing we always visit because of the where they're located. There is a nice pool area with steps for sitting and we always sit down here. The sea lions were very playful (it was already evening) and totally hamming it up! LOL. This was way better than any Dolphin show we've seen. And they were putting up a show all by themselves, no trainers. So cute.


I took these pictures of some Hydrangeas that came out good, I think. If you'd like them (or the butterfly) for wallpaper, click on the download links at the end of this post :)

Pink Hydrangea

Hydrangea Closeup

Download Butterfly
Download Pink Hydrangea
Download Hydrangea Closeup
Download Corals
Download Sea Lion (Thought I'd put this here as well)

I took some cute pics of Mehul as well, but you'd see them in LOs for sure so I'd rather not add to this already photo intensive post! LOL!