Tag Archives: animals
Rocky being Rocky
(Someone was upset because he is not getting enough exposure in these pages. So this post is to satisfy demands of furry creatures and restore peace and tranquility)
In case you were wondering what’s been going on with our Editor – in- Chief, well, I think he’s retired.
Editor in Chief
He seems to find more satisfaction in a basket of clothes fresh from the dryer. Oh yes, they must still be warm…And sports fans will remember “Manny being Manny”… I think we have a case of Rocky being Rocky. 🙂
Baby Alpacas
If you have been following my posts for awhile you may remember a post from last November about a “Teeny, Tiny, Farm-ette”. In that post I introduced a friend’s little farm where he tends to Silky Chickens, alpacas, pygmy goats and horses along with dogs, cats and a parrot or two.
About a week ago he called me to ask if I still liked taking pictures of baby “critters”. Of course I said yes. At the time of the call he had a 2 day old Alpaca baby. I couldn’t go visit right away so the baby was about a week old when I got there.
The baby had a friend, another baby Alpaca that was 2 weeks old and an”older” friend that was about a month old.
I was surprised how big they were for so young but as grazing animals they would have to be able to get around quickly if they were in the wild to escape predators. I had a chance to pet one, not just take pictures and I understand why they are so valued for their wool. They are so soft and fluffy. They are softer than they look.
Mama didn’t like too much attention being showered on her young one but she behaved, no spitting but she did stick out her tongue once to show her displeasure.
They had more baby pygmy goats but when I went into the pen they crowded around me so much I couldn’t get any pictures. They were funny as they tried to chew on my jeans and nibble on my sneakers.
As I was preparing to leave I found out that some baby “silkies” had just hatched so a quick stop by the nest box yielded a picture of this tiny chick.
It’s easy to see how Animal Planet can make a series called “Too Cute” about baby animals because they are just that…too cute!
Day at the Zoo
It’s the last day in Alaska and I’m so glad we are spending it at the Zoo. I love zoos. I even went to the zoo in Hawaii.
So we arrived via the Zoo shuttle right to the entrance. When it’s time to leave the shuttle will pick us up right in the parking lot. There’s even a little bench to sit on while we wait.
We bought our tickets and picked up our maps and followed a family of rambunctious little ones onto the paths. The paths cross crossed and meandered so we picked the “must see” animals and figured we’d go there first. Grizzlies were on that list but they were also on the far side of the zoo.
There was a little deer in an exhibit that was just full of mischief. A Maintenance worker was repairing the enclosure and she just followed him everywhere trying to chew on his pants. When he finally shooed her away she took off to pick on a poor , abused looking turkey that shared her enclosure.
The tiger was sleeping and wasn’t going to move for anyone.
The wolves were pretty riled up. They paced along the fence line. A family with very young children were watching. The wolves seemed to be fixed on the kids. Did they think they were prey? A snack? The kids started making howling sounds and the pack joined in.
Once the family moved on the pack dispersed back into the trees in their habitat.
We saw a snowy owl, one of the birds that winters in MA and that I am still trying to get a photo of in the wild.
There was a beautiful bald eagle. They are so majestic that it always makes me feel bad when I see them in captivity. On the other hand many of the captive eagles were injured and couldn’t be rehabilitated enough to survive in the wild. I guess being captive is better than the alternative.
We passed the black bear, a moose hiding in the shadows, and a pretty little red fox snoozing in the sun.
We got a close up look at the caribou.
We crossed a bridge over a pond and watched the swan whose very presence owned the pond. I’m not a “birder” but I think it was a Trumpeter Swan. We have “Mute” Swans around home and it wasn’t that. The bill was black while the Mute Swans have yellow bills and a black eye ridge.
Silly me spotted a squirrel and the picture I got of him is one of my favorites.
There was a good exhibit of the Dall Sheep so we finally got to see this elusive animal up close.
Finally we spotted the grizzly bear enclosure. They weren’t cooperating any more than the wild ones. One was sprawled in the brook in the shade down in a corner of the enclosure. No good angle for a picture. The other one was in a hollow taking a nap. His big foot and an ear about all that could be seen.
By now we’d spent more than an hour so we needed to hustle back to catch the shuttle. We passed the otters and stopped for a minute at the Polar Bears.
We skipped the musk ox and probably a few other animals but time was now of the essence. It was harder to find our way out of the zoo than in!
Finally the exit and timing was perfect. The shuttle was pulled up and waiting.
One more Lodge
After our exciting evening of dog sledding (I really did have a great time and would do this again) we all climbed back on board the bus to retrace our steps. We dropped off our young guides back at the trappers exhibit and returned to the lodge just in time to stop by the Base Camp Bar and Grill for a late dinner.
Then it was back to the room to pack up our bags again. This time they needed to be left out by 7 am . It was too cold to leave them out overnight. The staff would pick them up and they would be delivered to our room at our next stop, McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge. We’d be spending 1 night there before heading back to Anchorage.
We could have squeezed in an early morning tour, quite a few people did, but we just relaxed with a leisurely breakfast and some souvenir shopping.
The bus rolled up right at 11 am. As before the driver checked off our names and gave us a packet with a room key and map of the grounds. Then we were on the road again.
At least the weather was better than when we were cruising. The sun was out and we settled back to enjoy the scenery. This bus driver was talking with another driver that had pulled out ahead of us and was now was maybe 5 miles in front.
In Cantwell, Alaska you can stop and see this strange construction, a now abandoned 4 story igloo shaped hotel. We just drove by. The driver said it had been abandoned because it was an environmental hazard…asbestos or something.
We watched the mountains pass and the landscape change to tundra again.
We passed a herd of caribou then the radio crackled to life.
There was a grizzly bear chasing a moose along side the highway. The driver gave us a mile marker and everyone sat up and started watching. Unfortunately the mile marker came and went and we never saw any sign of the bear or the moose. Everyone settled back down.
A bit farther along the passengers in the front of the bus got very excited. By pressing my face tight to the window I could just make out why. There was a moose running along the side of the road with the traffic! I couldn’t get a picture from that angle but I got ready just in case and it paid off.
Just as my window approached the moose, he decided to leave the road and bolted up the bank. Wonder of wonders, I caught his scramble even though the window glass!
Not long after the moose sighting we pulled into the new lodge.
It was lunch time so we dropped our carry-on’s in the room and made a bee line for the restaurant. Apparently several buses had come in at the same time so we had quite a long wait but finally we were seated right by the kitchen.
An order of chicken fingers made everything right again. 🙂 When my tummy’s not happy, I’m not happy.
Now fed, we had the whole afternoon to explore. There was a show in the movie theatre we wanted to see about the Aurora Borealis but we’d missed the mid-day showing and the next wasn’t until the evening. There was another about Alaska so we went to that instead. It was a series of photographs in slideshow format set to music. It was beautiful and worth spending the time to see. It even included some shots of the northern lights so maybe we could skip the other movie.