Astral Nomads

One man, one woman, one rabbit......traveling with the stars.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

It's all happening at the zoo

Someone told me
It's all happening at the zoo.
I do believe it,
I do believe it's true.*

Continuing our adventures in the urban landscape of San Antonio, the Astrals headed over to the San Antonio Zoo for the day. It's a nice zoo, with some modern improvements and some parts dating from WPA projects. I have mixed feelings about zoos. I love to see the animals but I almost hate to see mammals in prison simply for being what they are. It was a beautiful sunny day in the low 70Fs and the only real problem was my constantly saying 'San Diego Zoo' instead of 'San Antonio Zoo'. Any phrase that starts with 'San' and ends with 'Zoo' just naturally seems to require 'Diego' in the middle. Astral Wendy took 250 pictures and then her memory card was full. Herein are some samples.


We both dug the graphic design of this sign. (Note to self: buy smaller
shorts.)

When you're screaming for color, nothing beats the flamingo.

Go for a ride
In the still of the night
And morning brings forth
All this wonderful delight
Couldn't have made it more plain
When I heard that soft refrain
And I heard you gently sigh

Wanna take you where flamingos fly, flamingos fly
Way over yonder in the clear blue sky
That's where flamingos fly**


Here's one of the Black Bears we so skillfully avoided
in Florida. Merit Badge in Bear Avoidance, please.

Check out the claws on this Grizzly Bear. And to think we're
heading west. 

The Mighty Komodo Dragon. Carmine said one boy, here are two.


Here kitty, kitty.

Oh boy!

Try the Shrimp Platter.

Indian Name: Swims with Two Fins.

Man, the most destructive animal.

It was a good day for a nap in the sun.

Even a swim around the pool.

How about a nice crisp apple?

Go Gators!

Hey man, when's P-Funk gettin' started?

There were a lot of walk-through aviaries where you could
get pretty close to very tame exotic birds.

An African Wild Dog. These guys looked pretty vicious.

What a beak.

This Asian Elephant was giving himself a dirt bath.

This porcupine seemed rather unconcerned.

Polkdots are obviously in for this crowd. I love the Little Richard hairdos
on these birds. Be-Bop-A-Lu-Lu alrighty.

Not even a rhinocerous? Imposserous!

The Warthog.

All the big cats were napping.

Cassowary.

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry? ***

Just another Aussie with a belly full of beer.

I spent a little time feeding a Lory. Birds dig me, especially when I'm holding
a cup of nectar.


*At The Zoo, Simon & Garfunkel
**Flamingos Fly, Van Morrison
***The Tyger, William Blake

9 comments:

  1. Great photos! Love the big cats..and the cute Asian elephant..

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  2. Great shout out to THE Freshman....I love that movie!

    Wendy...I think you need to freelance for national geographic or something. photos totally rock! That alligator one...I laughed...I cried.

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  3. That should be GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GATORS!!!!!!!!!!!

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  4. @erica: Glad you got the reference. That's my favorite line for some reason.

    @Clark: In the Longhorn State, you're only allowed to use one O!

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  5. Thanks Erica! I took the Frieda Kahlo shot in today's post just for you! Of course I had to wait until the American Flag stopped blowing across her face to do it. I'm learning patience! XOXO

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  6. Those are some amazing photos! Love the commentary too...

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  7. @Anonymous: Thanks. Wendy is the shooter, I'm the voice.

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