Maguari in Florida (and Georgia)

ThylacineAlive said:
I'm interested as to why you'd want to visit Jacksonville before Lowry Park, which is in Tampa.

~Thylo:cool:
Click to expand...

I don't, particularly. But I want to visit them both on this trip and there is something else that my dad, who is travelling with me until Saturday, and I both want to do, so I have to do that before the weekend (hint - it's booked in for Friday as a tour is required ;) ). As The Other Thing is also in northern Florida, Jax is also happening this week. As is something else in northern Florida, but we'll need to make it snappy (hint, hint).

Don't worry, Lowry Park emphatically is not forgotten, but for the moment, our only business in Tampa is to get to the airport. All will become clear (or at least clearer than it is at the moment). :D
 
Brief WiFi update:

Jacksonville highly enjoyable, paricularly the surprise appearance of Speke's Gazelles and my first Red Wolves. Also brilliant views of Jaguar cub.

Afterwards called at Huguenot Memorial Park, where there were hundreds of terns, more dolphins and we added two desirable species to the trip list: Black Skimmer and Bald Eagle.

Today a quick morning spin round the very enjoyable St Augustine Alligator Farm and an afternoon tour of Lubee Bat Conservancy. The single Spectacled Flying Fox won the day!

Flying back to Miami imminently; more details on last two days to follow!
 
Maguari said:
...and we added two desirable species to the trip list: Black Skimmer and Bald Eagle.

Today a quick morning spin round the very enjoyable St Augustine Alligator Farm and an afternoon tour of Lubee Bat Conservancy. The single Spectacled Flying Fox won the day!

Flying back to Miami imminently; more details on last two days to follow!
Click to expand...

You say details to follow, what I'm getting from reading between the lines is bragging rights to follow! :p
And now I guess you've seen every species of crocodilian, including Orinoco. A certain Mr zoogiraffe is going to be quite jealous I assume! ;)
 
Maguari said:
Brief WiFi update:

Jacksonville highly enjoyable, paricularly the surprise appearance of Speke's Gazelles and my first Red Wolves. Also brilliant views of Jaguar cub.

Afterwards called at Huguenot Memorial Park, where there were hundreds of terns, more dolphins and we added two desirable species to the trip list: Black Skimmer and Bald Eagle.

Today a quick morning spin round the very enjoyable St Augustine Alligator Farm and an afternoon tour of Lubee Bat Conservancy. The single Spectacled Flying Fox won the day!

Flying back to Miami imminently; more details on last two days to follow!
Click to expand...

Speke's Gazelles! Very lucky! The rarest gazelle species I've seen is Arabian, that's the only gazelles I've seen :D
 
Maguari said:
Brief WiFi update:

Jacksonville highly enjoyable, paricularly the surprise appearance of Speke's Gazelles and my first Red Wolves. Also brilliant views of Jaguar cub.

Afterwards called at Huguenot Memorial Park, where there were hundreds of terns, more dolphins and we added two desirable species to the trip list: Black Skimmer and Bald Eagle.

Today a quick morning spin round the very enjoyable St Augustine Alligator Farm and an afternoon tour of Lubee Bat Conservancy. The single Spectacled Flying Fox won the day!

Flying back to Miami imminently; more details on last two days to follow!
Click to expand...

We need details my friend! I know that you are a "species spotter" with an extensive array of critters on your all-time list, but what about the quality of the exhibits as well?:) Jacksonville is a very good zoo and possibly one of the top 20 in the U.S. (only just); St. Augustine Alligator Farm is a wondrous delight if you are awed by crocodilians; and hopefully you are visiting Zoo Miami as that is a truly great zoo with a vast collection. Between Jacksonville's "Range of the Jaguar" and Miami's "Amazon & Beyond" those two exhibit complexes represent some of the most comprehensive South American collections of any American zoo.
 
Too late for a long post but I was at Miami today and it's fantastic! Had to rush a few areas so if I can I'm going to try to call in again on the way to the airport on Wednesday.

Now at lodgings in Cocoa Beach; day trip to Tampa tomorrow!
 
Lowry Park should take you only a few hours to do but it is an excellent zoo. I, unfortunately, had had to rush through it a bit but I still got lots of neat life ticks! I hope you see your Key Deer, Royal Antelope, and Bay Duikers!:D Did you see Miami's Black Duiker?

~Thylo:cool:
 
No Black Duiker, if I get back I'll try again!

No Key Deer (hiding) or safari ride to Bontebok (broken down) but still a brilliant day; Royal and Bay no problem at all!

Given that SeaWorld opens til 8pm, I'm tempted to visit, say, 4pm to 8pm, post-Disney, as a) it would save driving into Orlando twice b) it would help free up time for Miami II and c) I'm not sure I want/need a full day of Disney anyway (I will be at the gate at opening).

Does anyone know if any animal bits of SeaWorld close early? I'm not fussed about the shows particularly.
 
Maguari said:
No Black Duiker, if I get back I'll try again!

No Key Deer (hiding) or safari ride to Bontebok (broken down) but still a brilliant day; Royal and Bay no problem at all!
Click to expand...

Oh no! And Lowry Park doesn't have them anymore either?

How long did you look for the Key Deer? It took me a good 15 minutes at least to find one! You kind of just have to wait for them to wander into the clearing by the small pond. Did you at least see the Whooping Swans in the same enclosure? Too bad about the Bontebok and the ride. For me, besides the Patas Monkey, Martial Eagle, Bontebok, Common Eland, and Ellipsen Waterbuck, all of which are seen almost immediately, the rest of the ride is simply a huge waste of time and just shows you backwards and often worst views of trail enclosures!

Glad you found the Royal Antelope and Bay Duikers easily!:D Did you spot any other duikers on-exhibit? And were the kudu back on-exhibit (and which species was it?)?

~Thylo:cool:
 
Whooping Cranes? Yup, no problem there. Went about five or six times, spending from a couple of minutes to 10 or 15. Towards the end of the day a keeper fed the cranes then wandered off to the back so it seems they were just hiding at the back. With that enclosure, it's all luck! No biggie.

No other duikers and no kudu. I also saw a keeper in that enclosure; she gave kale to the nyalas, then to each Bay, then left. Other than the hornbills I'd say there's nothing else in there.
 
Maguari said:
Whooping Cranes? Yup, no problem there. Went about five or six times, spending from a couple of minutes to 10 or 15. Towards the end of the day a keeper fed the cranes then wandered off to the back so it seems they were just hiding at the back. With that enclosure, it's all luck! No biggie.

No other duikers and no kudu. I also saw a keeper in that enclosure; she gave kale to the nyalas, then to each Bay, then left. Other than the hornbills I'd say there's nothing else in there.
Click to expand...

Must have gotten lucky then:) Well at least you saw the cranes.

Where the signs up for the other duikers and kudu still or did they take them down? And was the Warthog still in the neighboring enclosure? I didn't even see a sign for them.

~Thylo:cool:
 
ThylacineAlive said:
Must have gotten lucky then:) Well at least you saw the cranes.

Where the signs up for the other duikers and kudu still or did they take them down? And was the Warthog still in the neighboring enclosure? I didn't even see a sign for them.

~Thylo:cool:
Click to expand...

Duiker sign still a generic one with three species mentioned; no kudu sign. Enclosure next door fully labelled for and occupied by Aldabra Tortoises.
 
Maguari said:
Duiker sign still a generic one with three species mentioned; no kudu sign. Enclosure next door fully labelled for and occupied by Aldabra Tortoises.
Click to expand...

Okay, that's how it was for me.

Odd. The Aldabra Giant Tortoise was in with the Patas Monkeys (or Martial Eagle, I forget if the Spurred Tortoise was in there or not) when I went.

~Thylo:cool:
 
Today's destinations were Brevard Zoo and Busch Wildlife Sanctuary. Not an obvious pairing but I wanted to do Busch and it doesn't pair well with anything!

My first, and second, Grey Foxes and first American Red Fox made it a fox day, but with two very welcome surprises - Brevard's Perdido Key Beach Mice and a beautiful and very friendly Eastern Spotted Skunk at Busch.

On an otherwise fairly nondescript birding stop afterwards I finally found a wild cottontail as well!

Tomorrow will be a long day of Orlando; wish me luck!
 
Well folks, if anyone tells you it's impossible to do all the live animal exhibits of DAK and SeaWorld in a single day, you can officially call them wrong!

Busy day, particularly as I found SeaWorld actually closed at 6 today, but the timings actually worked out pretty well - DAK finished just after 1, into Aquatica for quarter to 2 in time to watch the Commerson's Dolphin training session at 2, then into SeaWorld itself about 2:30. Apart from the Commerson's, I saw no shows at SeaWorld, but as you can see everything important without watching any it's no loss.

Long day, but a good one, even if the collections are not really my style - they are very good at the style they aim for.

And I got to see some Bontebok. :)
 
Maguari said:
Today's destinations were Brevard Zoo and Busch Wildlife Sanctuary. Not an obvious pairing but I wanted to do Busch and it doesn't pair well with anything!

My first, and second, Grey Foxes and first American Red Fox made it a fox day, but with two very welcome surprises - Brevard's Perdido Key Beach Mice and a beautiful and very friendly Eastern Spotted Skunk at Busch.

On an otherwise fairly nondescript birding stop afterwards I finally found a wild cottontail as well!

Tomorrow will be a long day of Orlando; wish me luck!
Click to expand...

Tell me this not your entire review of Busch Wildlife Sanctuary? If so u must hold the record for shortest zoo review ...!
 
@Maguari: Seaworld, Aquatica and DAK in one Day!!! Even when you have skipt all the shows and rides you must be exhausted (And also very rich, the total amount of the entrance fee of those three parks must be over 200 US-Dollars - plus parking fees).

What do you think of the new Penguin Exhibit at SW? And what animals have replaced the Gerenuks at DAK?
 
zooman said:
Tell me this not your entire review of Busch Wildlife Sanctuary? If so u must hold the record for shortest zoo review ...!
Click to expand...

Having to post from phone currently; there will be more words later!
 
zoomaniac said:
@Maguari: Seaworld, Aquatica and DAK in one Day!!! Even when you have skipt all the shows and rides you must be exhausted (And also very rich, the total amount of the entrance fee of those three parks must be over 200 US-Dollars - plus parking fees).

What do you think of the new Penguin Exhibit at SW? And what animals have replaced the Gerenuks at DAK?
Click to expand...

Will answer these when I have a bit more time; post again to remind me id I don't! :-)
 
Just a quick update as will be back with PC access before too long - the trip is drawing to a close.

Yesterday I travelled back to Miami, first visiting Seaquarium for Pacific White-sided Dolphins (curious place) and then spending an extra couple of hours at the zoo. Still no Black Duiker (boo!) but got to spend a good long time in the big aviary and saw three times the species I saw when it was busy on Saturday.

I then had an evening flight up to Atlanta for the 'and Georgia' part to begin. Today the zoo was the main event; not the biggest zoo but very enjoyable. Saw my first Wolf's Guenons and Geoffroy's Tamarins (are the latter new? Didn't expect them!) and the herp collection is great.

I then called in at the Botanical Gardens for weird frogs and a little woodland birding.

Flight home leaves at 9pm tomorrow, so there's time for a little final treat. Well, a big treat. A big, fishy treat...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top