Giraffe

This Giraffe was shot at the Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee, FL while my daughter and son-in-law were on a mini-vacation last week. He was kind enough to pose for me like this.

Giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) can be found in the dry savannahs and in open woodlands south of the Sahara Desert. They are the tallest land mammals with a height up to 20 ft. The also have a long, prehensile tongue that can extend its reach by 15 inches. Their tongue is a bluish purple in color and their primary food is Arcacia leaves. There are nine subspecies distinguished by their coat patterns.

Giraffes give birth standing up, which means the baby's first sensation is a 6 ft. drop. Imagine coming into the world like this! The newborns must learn to run almost immediately by its mother's side, because Giraffes are preyed on by lions, leopards, spotted hyenas, and wild dogs.

Crested Seriema

This is another bird from my visit to Lowry Park Zoo. This guy was up above my head on a perch and just looking down checking me out while I was checking him out. It looks like he has the start of a cataract in this eye. The other one is clear, but this one looks a bit cloudy.

He's a rather large bird, probably the size of a Great Blue Heron in height, but much more stout. He seemed friendly enough or maybe just curious, but wouldn't come any closer. I love that little tuft of feathers just above his beak. It adds to his curious expression.

Whenever I'm shooting birds or animals in a zoo, I try not to show signs of a zoo in the background. Not because I'm trying to fool anyone, but because I want the photo as natural as possible. The easiest way to do this is with a wide aperture. I don't open it all the way, because the depth of field would be limited and all the bird will not be in focus; especially when using a telephoto lens. This one was shot at F6.3 and 1/250th. I think it blurred out the background just enough so it doesn't detract from the photo, yet enough so it hid the mesh above his head and behind him.

White Ibis Fighting in the Air

I went to Lowry Zoo today with my friends, Kathy, Gary and Frank. I was lucky enough to spot these two Ibis fighting in the air.

I just held the shutter button down and hoped I caught them. What a surprise when I saw this image!

The squabble didn't last very long, but it was exciting to watch them. Nothing became of it. They just landed and each went their own way.

It's really something; I have flocks of White Ibis in my yard all day, and I go to the zoo to photograph them. :) Actually, we went to the zoo today because it was the first day the baby White Tiger cubs were outside. They're about 2 months old. The mother had a female and male. This shot is of one of them.

You can see the mother here: Aren't they just adorable?

Gorilla

I went to Busch Gardens again; this time in pursuit of a Chimpanzee photo that one of my stock agencies was looking for. Unfortunately for me, the Chimp never struck the pose the art director was looking for (head and shoulders profile with hand on chin, like he was thinking).

I did get some great shots anyway--especially of this magnificent Gorilla. I was standing next to 3 other female photographers and this Gorilla posed for us for a good 15 minutes or so. As you can see, he was looking right at the camera and kept changing positions as if he was modeling. I swear any minute, his keeper was going to ask us for a modeling fee.

Once he got tired of showing off, he moved to the side of his habitat where he's separated from the people by some thick glass. I'm sooooo glad that glass was thick! Someone in the crowd ticked him off--big time. Just as we were trying to inch our way up front for more shots of this amazingly powerful Gorilla, he spotted something in the crowd he didn't like. He walked back a few steps, then charged at the glass. I was so glad that glass held him because he wasn't a very happy camper. Get a look at those forearms!

Chimpanzee

Sunday, I went to Busch Gardens with a couple of friends and had a great time. It's been taking a while to go through all the photos I took--especially since I've been playing around with Lightroom 2 and trying to make up my mind if I want to stick with Lightroom and give up ACDSee Pro 2 for organizing and quick editing of my photos.

It's a tough decision, since I've been using ACDSee Pro for years so I'm comfortable with it, and I'm new to Lightroom, so it's a bit more difficult to use for me, and I'm not sure of the organizing, so it's really slowing me down.

Enough about my problems with my software. This Chimpanzee looked so sad sitting against that tree. I can't help wondering what was making him look that way. They're so cute. I think he's a little older than most of the ones we usually see.

Bald Eagle

This Bald Eagle was at Lowry Zoo. He's there because I believe he's blind in his other eye and can't be released out into the wild. I had to wait quite a while before I could get his picture with his good eye showing.

There are 2 Bald Eagles in the exhibit. I don't know what's wrong with the other one, but they're both equally beautiful.

I like the position of his head in this shot. It more closely resembles the portrait of the Bald Eagle as our nation's symbol.

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