Made my second zoo trip of the year yesterday, most things were as they always were but there are a couple things I’d consider highlights (or lowlights, though there’s only really one of those).
My lone “lowlight,” I once again missed Annie. Waited by her habitat for roughly my last hour at the zoo and didn’t see her. Meanwhile every other species I hadn’t seen to that point (namely the Crimson Rosella and African Spurred Tortoise) were both visible which was nice.
One of the red pandas was at ground level for the first time in recent memory for me. Felt incredibly weird actually having a decent view of a red panda, though the other one was sitting up above in a tree as is typical.
Saw some kind of pigeon perched on the tall tree right beside the aviary with the bats and the hamerkop/behind the ibis and spoonbill habitat. It was from a distance but I almost thought it could be a Triangular-spotted Pigeon. Additionally it seemed like there was a large group of a smaller songbird free-flying that atrium as well, unsure on the species. Meanwhile I couldn’t spot the Blue-bellied Roller which the website said is viewable.
Lloyd was perched on the feeding structure that is front and centre from the savanna overlook behind the African Rainforest Pavilion, until a pair of the ground hornbills decided to give him a bit of a hard time and chase him back to his usual perch out of view from the two main viewing areas on the kudu habitat.
Kembali and Jingga were outside, though I only saw Jingga actually exploring the outdoor space.
Vishnu was outside, something I hadn’t gotten to see in several visits.
Invertebrates inside the Malayan Woods Pavilion had some shuffling done. The Bush Katydid and Giant Shield Mantis were not on-display, though the signage for the former was present on the tank which was housing the Peacock Tarantula, while the tank that formerly housed the latter was housing a not-seen Asian Millipede.
The Crested Pigeons were not present in the Australasia aviary (which seemed generally unpopulated for some reason), however there was one individual in the Indo-Malaya aviary.
And lastly a possible overreaction, but I think I may have seen nesting behaviour between two of the African Penguins. I’ll attach a photo below but one of the two individuals was actually laying down in a little divot in front of the rock wall, and the other was particularly defensive and almost aggressive toward the cormorant, though the cormorant did seem to be instigating a slight bit.
Overall, I think the only species I didn’t see at any point throughout the day were the lions, Annie, the Bennett’s wallabies, and the caribou, though I expected nothing less from the caribou in all honesty.
Unrelated (and jokingly, for the most part), but has anyone ever seen the Stimson’s Python anywhere but wedged in that little log in its exhibit?