What's this?

If there's an itch...

What do you do when you have an itch?

Nubian goat

Bali myna

Angora goat

markhor

The picture of the buffalo weaver is pretty horrible because a shutter at 1/15s is not fast enough to stop motion. That means there's a lot of motion blur, which makes the bird appear out of focus. Motion blur can be good, though, and I think the curve of the leg's motion is pretty cool. The blue is the tag on the leg, captured a couple of times.

white-headed buffalo weaver

Tyler, a Reeves's muntjac

Mustard, a Tasmanian devil

western cattle egret

sunbittern

All photos are from the Columbus Zoo except the sunbittern's, which is from the Cincinnati Zoo.

Minnesota Zoo

In December I was able to add the Minnesota Zoo to the short list of zoos I've visited while carrying a camera. The entrance is indoors, so I stayed indoors for seal training and a visit to the unexpectedly large tropical building. I was most interested in the cold-weather animals, but the camera's lens would fog if I'd gone from outside to the tropics.

I had only two hours but went to the monk seal training because it began five minutes after I arrived. It was interesting enough, but I should have skipped it. I couldn't bring myself to sail through the tropical building, so I didn't have as much time outside as I intended. In other words, I didn't focus on my goal 😐

moose

Asian wild (Przewalski’s) horse

Sadie, one of three brown bears, seemed to be snoozing until a keeper arrived. He gave me a heads-up before he called to her, and I caught her just after she looked up. (Dang smudged glass.)

brown bear

An Amur tiger was walking along a fence, apparently following a keeper who was outside. The tiger stopped, but the keeper continued to the tiger building and then called the tiger. The tiger ran around the viewing deck toward the building, and I caught it heading down the slope. (I should've applied a little more exposure compensation to brighten the tiger.)

Amur tiger

Sichuan takin

fisher

bactrian camels

coyote

Two pumas share a rocky exhibit and there was quite a bit of climbing and chasing. (Crummy focus but great action.)

puma (cougar)

The adult lynx posed nicely. There was also at least one juvenile in the exhibit.

Canada lynx

2019 favorites

Of photos I haven't posted, here are some of my favorites of 2019.

Juvenile silvered langur (Columbus Zoo)

Aldabra giant tortoise (Columbus Zoo)

eastern bluebird (Columbus Zoo)

honey bee (wild at the Columbus Zoo)

A 17-year-old western cattle egret (Columbus Zoo)

silver-spotted skipper (wild at the Columbus Zoo)

Twiggy, an African elephant gets a pedicure (Toledo Zoo).

Victoria crowned pigeons (Columbus Zoo)

Asian elephants (Columbus Zoo)

laughing kookaburra (Columbus Zoo)

Lake Erie water snake (grayish) and easterm fox snake (yellow/red and black) (Columbus Zoo)

unknown freshwater fish (Toledo Zoo)