Animals – Page 13 – Not Content to Crawl

Zoo

Posted onJune 9, 2013June 12, 2013

Saturday we took E to Brookfield Zoo after scoring free admission passes, including tickets to the dolphin show, from a friend I made through the cat rescue I work with. I took a lot of pictures of the giraffes because Brookfield has the largest collection I’ve ever seen. Plus they were really cute and inquisitive about the tortoises that share their habitat.

The dolphin show sucked. It wasn’t anything like I remember when I was a kid, not to mention it was only 20 minutes long. They used to jump out of the water much higher and often than they do now. Had we wasted $4 per person for tickets I would have been pissed. I also wasn’t too happy about the fact that the only way to see the zoo’s lemurs is to pay extra to enter their children’s zoo, although we opted not to as it’s $3.50 per person and lemurs aren’t that exciting.

Look, I understand the zoo needs to make money to update their exhibits and care for the animals, but at some point it just feels like they are nickel and dime-ing the public. Next thing you know there will be a fee to enter Tropic World Asia, and that will be the last time I ever see the gorillas. They look bored out of their minds which is painful to witness as it is.

Joe’s sister came over for dinner that evening and Bella had a great time running around with Winston and licking him. He wasn’t phased by her at all and she wasn’t scared of him like she was with the cats or our hamster, Nougat. It was really cute how excited she got being able to play with him. Winston is very friendly with everyone he meets and I’m glad we adopted him.

Wildlife Photo Extravaganza

Posted onJune 6, 2013June 7, 2013

A couple of weeks ago Brother #2 spent the week at our place since he’s currently off work thanks to a broken wrist. The weather was overcast and rainy the majority of the week but we did get to visit Willowbrook Wildlife Center where I got a fantastic photo of their resident bald eagle (although you can kinda still see the cage bars in the photo) as well as a few photos of the peregrine falcon outside his cage. We just happened upon a volunteer bringing him back to his cage and had a nice chat with her. Prior to that I was also happy to snag a photo of the eastern bluebird that is housed indoors.

Last weekend Joe and I visited the grand opening of a new nature center at a forest preserve we had never visited before (LeRoy Oakes). Afterwards we saw the butterflies at Peck Farm Park, ate some yummy Pad Thai and lemon bundt cake at the Taste of Wheaton, and finished our afternoon at Cosley Zoo where I finally got a decent photo of their bluejay. I never see them in the wild and the ones at Willowbrook hop around too much and are not in bright lighting making all my pictures turn out blurry.

We contemplated visiting the zoo in Milwaukee on Sunday but the weather wasn’t looking too good so we went down to our old stomping grounds instead and visited the Little Red Schoolhouse and Lake Katherine*, stopping for some unremarkable hot dogs before heading home in a drizzle.

* Interestingly enough, you’ll find my name listed in their website credits as having contributed photographs. I do recall someone emailing me years ago when they were redesigning the website asking for permission to use them, which I granted, but when I visit the site I am hard-pressed to identify any of the photos as mine.

Everyone Loves Dogs

Posted onMay 27, 2013July 12, 2013

The Saturday before last we went to the Taste of Glen Ellyn which was ok, but nothing big. Tastes always disappoint me because they tend to have the same old boring food from the same old boring vendors every year. After walking around for less than an hour we were ready to leave, so we decided to check out a place I’ve been wanting to try for awhile called Penn Station. They are known for having one of the best Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches in the western burbs, and while I did enjoy mine, nothing compares to the one I had when in Mesa, Arizona in 2009. Sad, isn’t it, that it’s so far away?!?

After lunch we decided to go to Herrick Lake since we hadn’t been there since sometime last year, but first we scoped out a new-to-us forest preserve called Blackwell. It’s huge! Even more surprising was that it has its own campground area which is open on Friday and Saturday nights from May-September. It’s probably a great way to get that camping feeling without having to go all out.

On the way to do some errands later that day we passed a festival in Carol Stream called Just Play. After learning more about it online we decided to check it out on Sunday morning when it opened. They had a zipline which would have been fun to ride but the line was over an hour long. We shared a yummy orange strawberry mango smoothie and checked out the BMX bikers instead. They make their tricks look so easy but I’m sure it takes a lot of time and practice. I debated trying to take some photos and a video of their tricks but decided to sit back and enjoy the show instead so you’ll just have to trust me when I say it was very cool.

After getting a little sunburn I was no longer in the mood for any further outdoor activities so we hung out watching tv the rest of the day.

This past weekend we had E over and even though it was unseasonably cool, we went to a nearby park for awhile to get some fresh air. Turns out this park has a zipline so I finally got to ride one. It’s much closer to the ground than the one at the festival but it was still a little thrill to ride. The park has a large pond too so I got to use my trusty little binoculars to watch a beautiful egret near the shoreline on the opposite side of the pond. I was also hissed at by a Canada goose protecting some babies hidden under its partner’s wing so that was interesting.

We had Bella with us at the park as we are dog-sitting this weekend and I met a couple and their hound dogs and another couple with their toddler who wanted to pet the doggy. It’s funny how much friendlier people are to you when you have a dog in tow.

Lilacs & Tadpoles

Posted onMay 16, 20131 Comment

Joe had the day off this past Monday so we took advantage of the nice day. Give me upper 60’s any day over the 80 degree weather we are experiencing now. Sure, the hotter temperatures are great for swimming but they suck for trekking around parks and nature preserves. We finally got around to visiting Lilacia Park in Lombard while the lilacs were in full bloom. We’ve only been trying to time it right for a few years now! Not only do they have all sorts of varieties, but the park has a lot of tulips and daffodils as well. The lilacs smelled so good I wanted to take some with me.

After the park we stopped for lunch at one of our favorite Thai restaurants around the corner from our doctor’s office as Joe had an appointment to see her about his recent asthma issues. She was confident they were caused by a build-up of cat fur in the house so it’s now official that I won’t be fostering any more of the cute little buggers. It sucks because I really enjoy photographing them and now I have to work extra hard to get my butt out of bed in the mornings since there’s no real compelling reason to do so.

After the doctor we visited Moron Arboretum in Lisle where I got to take advantage of the new compact binoculars I recently purchased (I paid only $13 on Amazon and they work nearly as well as the huge pair I inherited from my grandfather). Keeping track of the bluebird and a coyote we spotted from a distance was fun. We also saw hundreds of little tadpoles in a pond in one of the gardens.

Wild Birds

Posted onApril 15, 2013

I love wild birds which is why we’ve had a bird feeder well before it was “legal” to do so (association rules). The weekend before last I added a second feeder that has suet since it claimed to attract woodpeckers. Much to my excitement, within days we had a cute little downy woodpecker visiting daily to get his fix.

Menards had suet, bird seed, and feeders on sale this past weekend so we bought 12 blocks of suet since they were only $0.75/ea (most sell for about $2.50 although the brand in question is typically $1). One block seems to last a week so that’s $4 monthly to feed the woodpecker, who, by the way, patiently waited in a nearby tree yesterday morning as we replenished his food (as soon as we went inside he went straight for it). We also returned a bag of unopened bird seed we had purchased a week ago since the stuff on sale was twice as much for only $1.50 more.

In addition, we got a hummingbird feeder for only $5. I plan to make my own nectar since I read that the dye in the commercial food isn’t good for their little bodies.

I recently started thinking about attracting hummingbirds since I’ve yet to see one around here but my research tells me they spend April-September in the area. I sure hope the feeder draws them in!