A Trip To The Zoo

Every summer, I try to take a day or two and do something one on one with each of my kids before they go back to school.  For my youngest daughter, our tradition has become a trip to the zoo.  She loves maps and she loves animals, so it makes for a great adventure for us.  

We made our trip to the zoo this week.  I came home with a good collection of images, so I'll split them up into a couple of posts.  All of these were shot using the Canon EOS 7D Mk II and the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II.  This is quickly becoming a favorite combination of gear for me.

The tigers proved to be the most difficult to photograph this year.  Both of them were pretty content to pace back and forth in the back of their habitats, well out of view other than small glimpses here and there.  I did manage to grab this shot as the tiger as she made a quick lap to the front of her area.  If you look closely, you can see the cable netting that I was shooting through.

There were lots of flowers and with those flowers, bees.

This guy was huge and was doing a great job keeping the clover population down.  I wonder if he'd come and work on my yard?

They do a cool bird show at the zoo.  Owls, falcons, eagles, parrots, ravens.  Lots of great birds.

The zoo has 3 African elephants.

The zoo has four gorillas.  They are pretty fantastic to watch.

Last year when we visited the zoo, the giraffes hadn't been introduced to their new habitat yet.  This year, they seemed pretty comfortable in their new home.

The grizzly bears are always fun to watch.

We walked by the lion habitat several times throughout the day and there were no lions to be found.  We stopped by one more time on our way out and this time the males were out.