4 posts tagged “photography”

There are little birds. There are medium-sized birds. And then there are big birds.

Looking through the photographs stored on my laptop, four images stuck out as signalling change: those of time, weather, spring and autumn.

Show us change.
Submitted by quornflour.

Each of these was taken in 2004, somewhere in Christchurch. That it's now 2006, and I'm in Auckland, taking relatively few photos says a bit about how things have changed for me, too. Back then, I walked to work (now I'm at home), through or past the park, and past some pretty neat sights.  Some more obvious than others.

One thing I do miss about Christchurch is the amazing sky, and abundance of clouds. So clear and strong. Auckland weather is just as changeable, but but much less spectacularly so.

Shots of cloud and sky are some of my favourite things, but I've taken relatively few since leaving Christchurch. Hopefully summer might bring some more opportunity!

What I really need to do is buy a spare battery for my camera, and get out there...

My second week here in Auckland, my sister (who lives about an hour away) and her youngest son took me on an excursion to the Zoo. My nephew wanted to see the Siamangs, and the new tiger was out. Armed with my camera, and shod in comfortable shoes, I had a good day out. Here are some photos.

Though it wasn't a scheduled "encounter" day for the Sumatran Tiger but we were lucky to see Oz, the newly out of quarantine Tiger exploring his new enclosure. These photos

were taken shortly after our arrival. If my camera batteries were dead by the end of the day, I could have had some awesome shots of Oz pushing and pulling his ball up and around his territory. It was amazing to see, and a reminder of how much behaviour all cats share.

I was probably sitting a couple of metres away from the Tiger, separated by what I'm assuming is very strong, and probably one-way, glass.

The orang-utans were cute in an ugly kind of way - watching mother and child, and the long-haired alpha-male strutting around was quite cool.

The orang-utans feel the cold, the keeper told us - they each have their own blankets, that they are prone to dragging around, clutched in their "feet". Like little security blankets!

I was quite keen to see the . It was somewhat amusing to red panda to find this hard to classify animal (it is a racoon, a bear, a cat?) exhibiting a behaviour I observe frequently from my own little feline friend. ;-)

The meerkats were tubby, and good little diggers when they weren't trying to get the public to feed them. Apparently they're overfed - I'm not surprised, they have the standing on hind legs begging thing down pat.

Kashin, the Asian elephant, is approaching 40 years of age. We observed her having a brush down. It was funny watching her trying to stand back up after lying on her side. Like a grandmother struggling to get out of her chair, she'd swing her back leg up, to get some momentum going!

The elephant show was stolen, however, by a family of ducks who entered the enclosure, to join a lone pukeko. Fearless of being stood on by the elephants, the ducklings just marched right in with their parents, to the delight of the females in the gathering crowd. And the instant the elephants were herded out back for whatever purpose their keeper had in mind, the ducklings charged for the pond - an invading force meeting no resistance.

In Pridelands, the African Grasslands section of the Zoo, the Giraffes (big and small) wer being fed - we could  even have participated, if not for a truly rational fear of large animals slobbering on me. Nearby were a a huge asswhite rhino, and some stocky zebras.

My sister, who thinks hippos are cute, was pleased to see them flipping their funny little ears around,and to feed a piece of pair to this very colourful, and noisy, parrot.

Of the birds we saw, however, my favourite was this one. I have no idea what it is, but it was strutting around the path as we were ogling the giant tortoises, as if it owned the place.

 And perhaps it does. With a beak like that, I don't think I'd mess with it!

I can't remember the last time I went to the zoo - perhaps I was too young to appreciate it, not just the animals, but the work that they do - and just how many animals are endangered.

I'm sure a lot of people frown upon keeping animals in captivity. But the simple fact is that conservation is a huge part of what the zoo does - and like the animals we share the world with, that's not something we should overlook.

 

 

 

I am simply fascinated by the contrast between light and dark, here and beyond, life and seeming nothingness. Hence I take photos of trees and the sky.