Thursday, July 12, 2012

Day 14 Summer 2012 Road Trip

We awake around 8am and go downstairs for breakfast.

We want to be on our way by 9 am before the day gets too hot.  Calgary has been experiencing some unseasonably hot weather.  All the locals say they have never seen it this hot for so many days in a row. 

We are on our way to the Calgary Zoo today. 

The C- Train lets us off right at the zoo entrance.  It sure is easy to get around Calgary.

0086 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Entrance 0083 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo LRT Station 0084 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo LRT Station

Our first stop is at the Penguin Plunge.  This is a new exhibit at the zoo.  There was a 30 minute wait in line to get inside, but it is well worth the wait. 

There were some Humboldt Penguins outside the facility in an enclosure.
0090 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Penguin Plunge 0093 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo outside Penguin Plunge - Humboldt penguin 0094 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo outside Penguin Plunge - Humboldt penguin

Once inside, it is chilly… the environment is chilled to 7 degrees celsius.  The penguins might think that is a bit too warm for their liking.

There were 4 different species of penguins.

Here is a King Penguin and some Gentoo Penguins in the background.

0096 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Penguin Plunge - King penguin & Gentoo penguins 0101 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Penguin Plunge - King penguin & Gentoo penguins

A close up of the King Penguin.

0099 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Penguin Plunge - King penguin

These are Gentoo Penguins.

0106 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Penguin Plunge - Gentoo penguins

And this is the only picture of a Rockhopper Penguin that I could get.  They were too busy swimming and not one was out standing around wanting its photo taken.

0107 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Penguin Plunge - Rockhopper penguin

This is a display showing the 4 different species of penguins at the Calgary Zoo.

0124 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Penguin Plunge - Rockhopper, King, Gentoo & Humboldt penguins

We wanted to see the Canadian Wilds section of the zoo.

0128 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds

We saw some Big Horn Sheep and a Rocky Mountain Goat.

0133 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - Bighorn Sheep 0146 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - Rocky Mountain Goat

We saw a Great Grey Owl and a Snowy Owl.

0158 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - Rocky Mountain Aviary - Great Grey Owl 0164 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - Rocky Mountain Aviary - Snowy Owl

A Dall’s Sheep and some Woodlands Caribou.

0169 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - Dall's Sheep 0177 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - Woodland Caribou

A Columbian Ground Squirrel.

0182 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - Columbian Ground Squirrel 0183 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - ground squirrel

Some Wood Bison and some Musk Ox.

0190 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - Wood Bison 0199 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - Muskox

A River Otter.

0203 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - Cequel Lodge - River Otter 0204 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - Cequel Lodge - River Otter

A pair of Whooping Cranes.

0210 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - Whooping Crane 0217 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - Whooping Crane

A Grey Wolf.  Good thing I have a zoom lens, he was way at the back of the enclosure laying down.

0219 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - Grey Wolf 0220 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - Grey Wolf 0221 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - Grey Wolf

A couple of Grizzly Bears.

0225 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - Grizzly Bear 0229 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - young Grizzly Bear 0232 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - Grizzly Bear

Some Black Tailed Prairie Dogs.

0234 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - Black-Tailed Prairie Dog 0235 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - Black-Tailed Prairie Dog

A Black Bear that was sound asleep.

0237 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - Black Bear 0238 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo The Canadian Wilds - Black Bear

We stopped at the zoo cafe for a bite to eat, then continued on to the Destination Africa area of the zoo.
We stopped to look at the African Crested Porcupines.

0247 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - African Savannah - African Crested Porcupine 0249 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - African Savannah - African Crested Porcupine

We watched the Slender Tailed Meerkats as they scampered about and played with each other.

0257 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - African Savannah - Slender-Tailed Meerkat 0255 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - African Savannah - Slender-Tailed Meerkats

We watched as kids hand fed the Giraffe.

0258 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - African Savannah - Giraffe 0259 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - African Savannah - Giraffe 0260 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - African Savannah - Giraffe

The Hippo’s weren’t very active today.

0262 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - African Savannah - Hippopotamus

The Zebra’s were standing around waiting patiently while everyone took their photos.

0266 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - African Savannah - Grevy's Zebra

We saw some Ostriches.

0267 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - African Savannah - Ostrich 0268 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - African Savannah - Ostrich

A Lion.

0271 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - African Savannah - Lion 0275 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - African Savannah - Lion

Some Red River Hogs.

0277 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - African Savannah - Red River Hog 0279 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - African Savannah - Red River Hog

Some Chilean Flamingos and a Peacock.

0283 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - South America - Chilean Flamingo 0287 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - South America - Flamingo

A couple of Bactrian Camels.

0290 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - Eurasia - Bactrian Camel 0292 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - Eurasia - Bactrian Camel

An Asian Elephant.

0297 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - Eurasia - Asian Elephant - Swarna

As we were heading back to the main entrance we passed the peacock again and he was posing nicely for the audience.

0300 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - South America - Flamingo 0303 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - South America - Flamingo

We had never heard of this animal before, a Patagonian Cavy.  Kind of like an oversized rabbit.

0304 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - South America - Patagonian Cavy 0305 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - South America - Patagonian Cavy 0306 Alberta Calgary - Calgary Zoo Destination Africa - South America - Patagonian Cavy

That concluded our visit to the Calgary Zoo and we got back on the C-Train for the ride back to our hotel.  We didn’t have anything planned at the Stampede today, but we will be going there tomorrow for another evening concert.

To see all of todays photos from the Calgary Zoo, click on this link to our FLICKR site.

No comments:

Post a Comment