A Little Bit of Wild & Nature in the City

11:40:00 PM mandy 9 Comments

It's been years since I've been to a zoo. I think the last time I went to one was either in elementary school for a class trip or when my brother was very little. Either or...it was close to ten years ago! We finally had the opportunity to go this past Memorial Day (a very hot day at that). My brother was given free tickets from his teacher to visit a museum/zoo/aquarium and those sorts. So why miss the opportunity? Rather than going to the aquarium which is quite close to where we live or deal with the horrendous Manhattan traffic and parking, we took a trip up to the Bronx to the zoo.

A zoo seems like a childish choice to spend a family outing at but I thought it was quite fun. Although most of the animals weren't doing anything particularly exciting that day, it was nice to see them in real life rather than just through photos and videos. I must say, it was a little sad to see them laze around and not doing much in their enclosed fields. Yet I was also a little...ahem...very...excited to see them. Am I contradicting or what?

Since I've bought my DSLR, I haven't really gotten a good chance to take it out and photograph much with school and all. This trip to the Bronx Zoo gave me the perfect chance. Although...I admit I'm still not used to all the functions available but I tried to use the manual options available as much as I could. I should have done my camera homework beforehand! Maybe for the next opportunity. I think I'm going to make a summer goal to learn my own camera!

Here are some of the shots that I got that I thought was worth sharing. They have been cropped and edited a little...hope no one minds! These photos are also ordered in the way that I visited the zoo. Enjoy :D






After the short walk outside, we headed into a building to view their birds. It's surprising how some of the birds weren't even closed off by a window. Won't these birdies fly out toward the visitors?







This animal was just by itself near the fence. Wonder what was wrong (if there was anything wrong with him/her)...


One of the other visitors said these two were young deers (I think they are deers...correct me if I'm wrong!) were just playing. The two were at this head butting, antler clashing game for quite a few minutes!




This was how the vulture was positioned when we got to this part of the zoo. We all thought it wasn't real because of how still the bird was. But of course I don't think the zoo would let a dead animal stay there for visitors to see, or that this was a fake, or would a dead bird stay upright like that. Its wing span is amazing! Probably even longer than my height...


Once it vulture closed it's wings, it looked so much smaller. Shows how intimidating they can get!


The bird of the US...the bald eagle. These guys sure are sensitive. They just sat still whenever people passed by. Once we all turned around they started to tear apart their food! I have photos of it but I do not want to see it again...My brother, on the other hand, loved watching them eat and was so into it I think he watched them finish their whole meal. I couldn't even stand a second of it...


I spotted this peacock on the grass just sitting around. The odd part was there were no enclosures around where this peacock could have came from. This was a sitting area/pathway to enclosures. The peacock was just roaming freely. I guess it is normal?



Sadly, this birdie didn't open up it's tail. It would have looked beautiful...!

My brother and I were excited to spot the giraffes. Mostly because we watch Running Man and one of the members of the Running Man team is often called 기린 (kirin) or giraffe in Korean due to his height compared to everyone else's.


The gorillas were one of the more interest animals at the zoo that day. Before they walked away from the visitors, they were all playing around right by the window. Some would even stay very close then suddenly gave a quick bang on the window! I'm not sure if it was a few of the gorillas that did it or just one playful one but it was very exciting! Or...maybe it was their way of telling us to go away?



Another peacock came by when we reached the camel riding area. This one also didn't open up it's tail...But the colors of its tail was breathtaking! Ah what a shame. If only we were lucky and there was a peahen nearby. Then I would have been able to witness it in such close proximity!


After what felt like a long walk to another area of the zoo we finally spotted a peacock with its tail open! This is actually the cropped version. So what we saw with our eyes was much smaller. I wish I brought my longer lens so I could have captured it better...


Even when it put it's tail down the skirt effect it makes looks so pretty!




Don't you agree that the polar bear was cute? It was much skinnier than I imagined but I guess that's how they are when they're kept on zoo diets? This polar bear was very playful...all by itself. Gah, more contradicting feelings from me heh. There was this one point where the polar bear stepped out of the water onto the concrete area and jumped back in. Unfortunately I couldn't capture that because JUST when that happened...I ran out of memory space!



One of the zoo workers opened up those doors and the whole bunch of little guys knew right away to run back inside!



After going through most of the zoo I was a little disappointed at how little I actually saw. I was expecting a few more animals but maybe I just missed that path. Their signs were just a little confusing...I think to see everything and walk the entire zoo you'd need at least the whole day (keep in mind they close pretty early @5pm). Also, there were a few enclosed parts of the zoo where visitors have to purchase separate tickets in order to see. That's like paying to go to an amusement park and having to pay to go on each ride! I'm not sure what was in those areas but if I did pay to go into them it must be something really special...! However, overall, I still felt it was a great day spent animal watching with my family.