Swan Pond

The Columbus Zoo's trumpeter swans have a new pond. I have pictures of the old one, taken from about the same spot in different months over a couple of years.

April 19, 2021

June 27, 2022

October 18, 2021

November 15, 2021

November 29, 2021

January 23, 2023 

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.

In the Manatee Pool

At the Columbus Zoo, Florida manatees live in the manatee pool during their rehabilitations, 

but other animals live there, too.

Lookdown fish are silvery and very thin. Do you see its spine?

When this one turns, you can see how narrow it is:

 

Brown pelican

I think the residents should be trained to clean the glass:

Maybe this southern stingray is trying to clean the glass, but it needs to work above the waterline.

 

Buddy is a hawksbill sea turtle. (Her story)

 

The manatees eat lettuce, and this leaf was positively glowing. I don't know how to capture that in an image, though.

All photos and videos are from January 14.

Woverine Romp

A wolverine romped in the snow at the Columbus Zoo January 7. I was calling this one Guillotine because she was famous for somersaults, but I learned today that Gui was euthanized in April, 2024. So this must be Alvar (thank you, sister), who seemed to be having a good time.

Somersaults and paper:

I'm still having trouble with autofocus when shooting video:

Cheetahs Running

In my previous photos of running cheetahs, I used a fast shutter to freeze the action and limit motion blur. Here's Bob in 2023, shot using a shutter speed of 1/2000s. The focus is good, there's no blurring, and we can even see his claws.

In the summer of 2024, I tried for a sense of movement and speed by using a slower shutter, panning with the cheetah, and zooming in further. On June 4, I started with a shutter speed of 1/125s for Dave and Adrienne. I suspected that would be too slow, but it was an experiment and I forged ahead. The shots of Dave were forgettable, with lots of blurry fur and too much distance thanks to only 92mm of zoom.

For Adrienne, I kept the shutter at 1/125 but zoomed to 220mm. Most shots were like this one, with too much blurry cat:

The next frame was a winner. The background and grass have streaks of speed, and her feet and tail are a little blurry with motion, but her head is pretty sharp. All four feet are off the ground and she's looking intently at the lure.

What would happen if I increased a shutter speed to 1/180s? Here's Adrienne again, a week later:

In July, I used a 1/350s shutter to capture this unknown cheetah:

Later in July, two more, also at 1/350s. I again failed to record the names so I could give them proper credit.

Columbus August 21

I went to the Columbus Zoo August 21 with a pal and got these shots.

Randhir, a male sloth bear

The picture is not noteworthy, but the activity was interesting. Frankie, the youngster on the left, and one of his aunties had a brief shoving match. They stood this way for several seconds, the auntie gave a small push, and Frankie retreated.

Javan pond heron

northern bald ibis

African grey parrot

One of the western lowland gorilla moms with a kid on her back.

Humboldt penguin

Orangutans

I checked on Clementine in August at the Columbus Zoo.

Sulongo was in the yard, monitoring the grass beneath a tower.

Khali and Clementine were right up by the glass.

This looks uncomfortable.

It was difficult to get a shot, what with all the human primates crowded around. I think the glass is tilted the wrong way, if the intent is to minimize reflections.

Sulongo moved on to reading the newspaper.

Or chewing it.

Khali took Clementine out to the yard.

Sulongo was nearby

January Reptiles

I visited the Columbus Zoo's reptiles a couple times in January.

Burton (Burt) the Magnificent! Grand Cayman iguana. Focus stack of two images.

Weber's sailfin lizard

smooth-fronted caiman

green basilisk

red-tailed rat snake. Focus stack of two images

scrub python

Malagasy leaf-tailed gecko