Another Day at the Zoo

I love our zoo. It's not that far away, it's in the mountains, and it has an awesome giraffe exhibit. Charis absolutely digs the carousel.



I have to get her a frequent-rider pass.



So we went again today, hoping that being on the mountain would cool things off a bit. I'm so glad the zoo staff had mist-blowing fans placed around. Totally necessary.

We usually hit the giraffes first, but today did the trek backward (I think there are more up-hill climbs doing it that way). But we saw things we usually miss -- including a beautiful garden designed to attract butterflies, hummingbirds and bees. I'm inspired.



Unfortunately, it's right outside the hippo paddock and there's a nice aroma wafting out of there ...



We also were the only ones in the Australian exhibit with the wallabies (Parmas -- the smallest -- and Bennett's -- one of the largest) and got to pet a Bennett's joey. It's very soft, like a rabbit. This one is about 9 months old.




We then went into the Budgie Buddies exhibit (we usually avoid flying birds, but decided to brave it today and I am SO GLAD we did). A budgie is a budgerigar (parakeet in the U.S.). They are indigenous to Australia and do not occur naturally in the world anywhere else.



I bought a feed stick for $1 and gave the bird-perched stick to Charis. She was too jumpy when the birds tried to land on the stick while she was holding it.

I can't wait to show all this to Yslande and Catiana ...