One of the first stops for most visitors to the Zoo is the Flamingo Pool. Here's a really tight crop from one shot. The sun never gets very high in the sky this time of year, so the light is fairly good all day.
The Malayan Tiger cubs Christopher and Conner were napping when I first got there, but after a half hour or so they got up and started wandering around.
Being cats, they weren't up for long. Watch these two for any length of time and you realize that they're really not all that different from a pair of house cats . . . except maybe that these two would probably be quicker to kill and eat you.
After a while Rochelle the keeper showed up with a tray of beef heart chunks, and that got their attention. She also had a couple of special Sunday treats for them . . . whole rats. The adult tigers get whole rabbits on Sundays, but that would be too many calories for these little guys, so for now it's rats. Ordinarily I would have a shot of a special tray of food like that, and it was actually quite artistically arranged with the rats curved around the bowl of beef heart chunks, but it was just too crowded for me to change lenses. The 300mm lens I was shooting with has a 10' minimum focus distance, and I was standing right next to the keeper. Oh well, maybe it's better that way.
I never noticed before, but it seems that Bai Yun, the female Panda, and I share the same birthday. She's a lot younger than I am though.
The Jaguar was up in the tree when I first got there.
I found some great light on a small cactus at one point.
All in all it was a pretty nice day for a walk around the Zoo, even if I didn't get to see any Polar Bears. That was not for lack of trying, mind you, I did walk up there, but they were no place to be seen.
Click here to see a few more images from the San Diego Zoo on Sunday, January 1, 2012.
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