The Minnesota Zoo's Treetop Trail

Besides a farm, the Minnesota Zoo has a Treetop Trail, which used to be a monorail train. [Photos on the architect's site | New use for the train ] I walked part of it in September.

Some of the animal enclosures are spacious, and the animals can be far away.

Przewalski's horse (composite of two images)

American bison

takin

brown bears

Two Bugs

When making a focus stack, the idea is to take a series of pictures, each of which is focused at a different distance, or depth. I usually shoot insects handheld because they tend to move, and my strategy is to set the macro lens to its maximum magnification and then position the camera so that the bug is just out of focus. Then, using burst mode, I hold down the shutter button and move the camera forward. The camera takes pictures as long as I hold the button (maximum 8 per second).

If I move the camera too slowly, I get a lot of shots of the same thing. If I move it too quickly, I miss a slice, and part of the stacked image is out of focus. Like this:

This Asian lady beetle larva didn't move much, and I concentrated on moving the camera slowly so that I wouldn't miss a slice. It turned out well, except the chewing end.

Focus stack of 22 images

Bees are difficult for me to shoot handheld because they move a lot, and quickly. However, sleeping bees do not move! The missing gardener has a celosia patch, and we have seen carpenter bees sleeping among the flowers.

Instead of using burst mode and moving the camera, I took advantage of the bee's stillness and used a tripod and single shots. I used the viewfinder to focus so that the bee's face was almost in focus and took a picture. Then I turned the len's focus ring a small amount and took another picture. I repeated that, checking the viewfinder occasionally, until I'd captured the bee. I also used an extension tube for more magnification.

Focus stack of 16 images

The bee did move a little:

Unretouched stacked image

An antenna moved a bit, so there are shots with it in different positions, and a few of those ended up in the final stacked image. The focus-stacking software I've used lets one paint from a single image into the stacked image. I picked the image that showed the sharpest antenna and painted from that into the stacked image. Then I used a different image with no antennas showing to paint over the unwanted antennas.

I claim these uses of software to produce and improve an image do not contradict my lack of desire to use software to improve an image. I use focus-stacking software to overcome limitations in macro photography, at least in within my budget. I could use a smaller aperture for a larger depth of field, but that would require more light, and I don't want to carry around a flash and diffuser. Gimme my camera and natural light. I won't use software to remove a utility pole, but I will use it to remove artifacts of focus stacking.

The Minnesota Zoo's Farm

I visited the Minnesota Zoo September 20, 2025. Its farm is is more than a petting zoo; it seems to be a tiny working farm.

Here's a kunekune, a breed of pig:

Here's a wide goat:

 Here are two goats chewing:

 

Here's a goat walking down a ramp and making a comment:

A cow makes its own statement: 

Toledo October 4

 I visited the Toledo Zoo October 4, 2025. Here are the photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I opened my camera bag and saw that the top display looked funny and that the power switch was in the ON position. I figured that was okay because the camera hardly uses any power just sitting there, and the drive from Columbus was only 2 1/2 hours. Except that I'd last used it a couple of days ago. The battery was dead, but I still enjoyed the zoo. 

The switch in the ON position. (The photo was taken with the battery removed because it was being charged.)

Home Bugs

Here are some bugs I've seen around the house.

Silky harp ground beetle (focus stack of 12 images). Yeah, I blew the exposure.

Red milkweed beetle (focus stack of 16 images)

 

Reddish-brown stag beetle

Hackberry emperor

A click beetle, Monocrepidius lividus (focus stack of 2 images)

Monarch caterpillars on milkweed (focus stack of 2 images)

A bee fly, Villa lateralis  (focus stack of 7 images)

Flies have two wings while bees have four, and files' eyes are generally closer together than bees' eyes.

The Seek app says this is a type of cutworm, or moth larva (focus stack of 9 images)

Cabbage white butterfly on purple coneflower (echinacia)

Metric paper wasp on milkweed (focus stack of 14 images)

When I came upon the scene, this wasp and two yellowjackets(?) were taking apart what seemed to be a monarch caterpillar. By the time I had my camera, one yellowjacket was gone and the wasp had its own portion.

Golden White-eye

At the Toledo Zoo, a golden white-eye ...

... lives with a Palawan peacock pheasant ...

Photos are better when he's not up front, by the mesh. Sometimes he has a lady friend.

 ... and a many-colored fruit dove.

Male many-colored fruit dove

Last October (2024), a keeper was working in the enclosure, and I asked a few questions. I jokingly asked if he could bring the white-eye forward so I could get a good picture. He said, yeah, she's often hidden in the foliage, but she comes closer to the front when the mister is on. The next thing I knew, the water was on and the keeper was standing next to me.

Enjoying the mist

Some preening

In March of this year, I found this:

Komodo Dragons

I've visited four zoos that have Komodo dragons.

Columbus, July 2019

Minnesota, December 2019

Cincinnati, December 2021

I continue to have trouble with white balance when shooting certain reptiles indoors. It's not the reptiles' fault; it's the enclosures' lighting. I'm never satisfied with my pictures of the Malagasy leaf-tailed gecko at the Columbus Zoo, for example. I've tried cloudy, shade, fluorescent, and specific color temperatures, but none gave me colors on the camera's screen that matched what I saw.

At the Toledo Zoo, in March this year (2025), a Komodo dragon was at his or her posing rock and looking fine. The rocks and dirt are sort of tan, but my first shot didn't look quite right. I have no patience for this, so I tried only two other settings before moving on.

Daylight

4000K (I admit I rather like this one.)

Auto

Toledo has at least two of the world's largest lizards. Here's the other one:

40 minutes later...

 Back to the first one:

I've adjusted a focus setting, so videos are more in-focus over all, but the lens hunts every time it refocuses, which I find annoying.

Orangutans in Columbus

I visited the Columbus Zoo's Bornean orangutans October 1, 2024.

Dumplin was separated from Clementine and Khali.

 

Or was she?

A docent who was there explained that there is a similar grid inside, and Dumplin weaves fabric through it. She has not done that outside, though.

Khali has a lock!

(This reminded me of an orangutan in a zoo that hid a key in his mouth and used it to open a door. My memory was faulty in that there was no key, which makes the story even better. Read or listen to RadioLab.) 

It appears that kind of lock is used to secure things in the enclosure. In the first photo, one of these locks attaches the green cloth to the grid. An orangutan could probably detach a hook or carabiner easily.

Clementine: "Look at me, Mom!"

Oddities

I went to the Columbus Zoo April 1 and was not motivated to take the camera out of its bag. I did use my phone, though, firstly in the aquarium.

In Animal Encounters Village I found Melvin celebrating her 15th birthday!

Have you ever seen a large hairy armadillo?

 Me, neither.

Recent Snakes

Here are some somewhat-recent snakes.

Red-tailed rat snake and skin. Columbus Zoo, January 2, 2024

 

 

 

A red-tailed rat snake's tail. WikiPedia says the tail is sometimes red but is usually brown. Columbus Zoo, March 25, 2025

Lake Erie water snake. Columbus Zoo, January 2, 2024.

Canebrake rattlesnake. Columbus Zoo, February 11, 2024. Focus stack of 5 images

Red spitting cobra. Columbus Zoo, February 11, 2024. Focus stack of 5 images.

Mandarin trinket snake. Columbus Zoo, April 23, 2024

Scrub pythons. Columbus Zoo, November 6, 2024

Arizona black rattlesnake. Toledo Zoo, March 1, 2025. Focus stack of 3 images

Russell's viper. Toledo Zoo, March 1, 2025

King cobra. Columbus Zoo, February 11, 2025:

Rhinoceros Hornbill

I've seen rhinoceros hornbills at three zoos.

Kirana at the Toledo Zoo in 2018. Females have white eyes.

 

Andaru at the Toledo Zoo in 2019. Males have red eyes.

Cincinnati Zoo in 2021

A juvenile at the Minnesota Zoo in 2024

Kirana and Andaru have lived at the Toledo Zoo since 2008. They seem to be compatible, but there have been no chicks.

In January, 2025, the missing gardener and I attended a rhinoceros hornbill keeper talk. The keeper was inside the enclosure, tossing grapes to the birds, and he said the hornbills have excellent beak-eye coordination. He also explained that their upper and lower mandibles meet only at the tips of their beaks, so they catch the grapes at the tips and toss them into their mouths. I don't have shots of that, but I did catch a silvery-cheeked hornbill's toss in 2023.

Here, Kirana and Andaru share a tender moment and a grape: