Visiting the San Diego Zoo

Our recent trip to Southern California included our first trip to the San Diego Zoo - a place where one could easily spend days rather than hours. And a great place for taking photos.

(All zoo photos taken with my Olympus SH-1. Just click on a photo to see a larger version - especially useful for the bird photos.)

We had a special interest in seeing the aviaries at the zoo. But our bird watching started with the begging mallards where we stopped for a post-arrival lunch.

This one never got the "Please don't feed the ducks" message.

Next up were the ever-fascinating flamingos:

Yes, they are real.

A bit closer

Love that zoom lens

On to the aviaries and some individual bird enclosures (photographing was a bit more difficult at those):

Cockatoo

Parakeet

Lory

Fruit dove

Fruit dove

Toucan

Cock of the Rock

Hornbills

Malay Pheasant

Fancy pigeons patrolling the fish tank

Head feathers close up

Primates:

Mandrill

One of my favorites

Grooming

With young one

Getting ready to eat

All in a row, sunning

Tapir

Warty Pig

Tiger at lunch

Napping tiger

Gorilla explainer

African Otter

African Otter - front 

North American Otters

Albino Boa

Boa skeleton display

Entering the Panda area - tall bamboo with zoo gondola above

Red Panda - aka Firefox - feeding

One of the Pandas on loan from China, Bai Yun:

We were lucky the weather was mild and the panda was clearly visible.
They head inside for the AC in really hot weather.

Okapi - despite the stripes, it's more closely related to the giraffe than the zebra.

Entrance to the elephant area

Snapped while passing by on the zoo bus to the Outback

Koalas in the Outback area:

Some animals live in the water - tank photography is a bit tricky:

Barely visible - head of a hippo with attending fish

Crocodiles reflected in their tank 

Turtles in the tank

The zoo has some nice plant life, too:

Flowers in a tree

Hibiscus

There was lots more to see, but we needed to head for the airport for our flight back.  The San Diego Zoo is a place worthy of days of exploring.