Bronx Zoo

We headed to the Bronx Zoo on this perfect spring day. Aside from the wide range of exotic animals, this zoo is a great place to just go have a nice walk to enjoy the scenery. The cherry and redbud trees were blooming. Daffodils were still blooming and the forsythia was out in all its glory.



One of my favorite critters is the red panda. We lucked out that it was lunchtime so the panda was very visible.

I know that there are melatinized gray squirrels on the Princeton campus. I never actually saw one of them until today. Here's a squirrel living the good life....free but protected in the zoo. It's like a bonus to see all the wildlife living within the zoo accidentally.

Another big draw is the tigers. I could probably spend half a day just watching the tigers.

All of my previous visits to the zoo, this black leopard has always been asleep on the log. Plus everyone else that I know who's been the zoo has said the same thing. I was surprised to see it fully awake and walking around. Too bad they can't seem to keep the glass clean. But I do like the accidental glowing eyes effect from the flash.
I certainly wasn't going to pass the reptile house. Most of the stuff in there is quite impressive. They have a native US alligator snapping turtle which can get up to 220 lbs and many other massive snakes and turtles.

All seemed very quiet with the wild african dogs. Everyone was in full nap zone....until.....
a tiny house sparrow landed too close to one of the dogs (we think). Then all hell broke loose! Everyone was up chasing, running around, and yelping. The bird was long gone but it didn't stop the fun.