Birds at Lowry Park Zoo

Found this little sparrow on a railing.

Wild great egrets are starting to nest over the alligator exhibit at the zoo.

Permanently injured eagles live at the zoo. This is the first time I've seen them this close together.

Mates.

Love was in the air at the lorikeet exhibit. They were all busy preening each other.

Pink flamingo in the African aviary.

There's always something interesting to find at the Lowry Park Zoo. When my sister came to visit recently from South Dakota we spent an afternoon at the zoo. She was excited to be outside in the warm weather. It felt like spring. I was anxious to see if any of the blue herons were nesting over the alligator exhibit. There was no sign of them there but it's still a month or two early for them. There are a handful of great egrets nesting high up in the trees already. Last year blue herons filled the small palm trees along the exhibit with nests and by May there were baby blues everywhere. I'll check back in another month.

Atlanta trip

Today I am on my way back home from Atlanta for a quick trip. Yesterday was such a beautiful day there I had to go to the zoo.

When I first arrived I noticed the baby flamingos. There were 7 babies. They were so cute in their grey fuzz. It's the first time I've seen kids get excited over flamingos.

Then I headed to the back of the zoo to see Xi Lan, the baby panda. She turns one this month but is still so funny rolling around and climbing the structure in the exhibit. A warning if you visit in the summer, the glass to see into the dayroom stays fogged up so it is hard to get good pictures. Because the dayroom the pandas are in stays around 60 degrees and the outside glass is so hot it stays fogged up.

The elephants there have an orange tint to them because of the good ole Georgia clay all over their enclosure. People always comment on their color.

Before I left I caught the lions running around for a few seconds before they plopped down for a nap. It's rare to see them playing, they usually sleep so much in the heat.