Dickerson Park Zoo on Father's Day

My daughter noticed that Dickerson Park Zoo was opening an hour early for members on Father’s Day and suggested we should visit as our celebration of the day since we’ve all joined. My husband and I picked her up (her house is ‘on the way’ for us) and we were at the zoo a few minutes before 8. The day was warming up…still pleasant rather than hot. We spent an enjoyable 2 hours at the zoo.

There were peacocks around the entrance. One on the roof of the entrance buildings displayed but didn’t have any of the long tail feathers!

Another male was very close once we passed the entrance so I took a portrait.

There was one that was walking up the stairs that didn’t have the typical topknot of feathers on its head. When it got to the top of the stairs, I noticed that it stood with toes crossed…and that peacocks have spurs!

In the flamingo enclosure the flamingos were relatively calm, but the roseate spoonbills were moving about and vocalizing

…and then two of them mated!

The daylilies were blooming in beds interspersed throughout the zoo but I also noticed stands of lambs ear, bamboo….and some very large catalpa trees.

The trumpeter swans vocalized…but not as often as the peacocks. There are only 2 of them. I like the swirls in the water around the swan….breaking up the reflection of big trees.

After seeing a lot of peacocks at the beginning of our visit (and continuing to hear them) …we saw a female with three peachicks about an hour into our visit. They moved away from us, but I managed to get close enough for some zoomed portraits.

The ostrich enclosure is viewed from above…but the deck’s wood most have supported some insect (?) that the bird found tasty because it spent a lot of time pecking at the wood directly below where we were standing! I managed a good picture of the head – large eye and nares.

There were two cheetahs moving around in their enclosure. The tiger was pacing and vocalizing nearby…seemingly upset at the keeper for sequestering him in his larger enclosure while his smaller cage with den was being cleaned.

The Crowned Cranes are always photogenic subjects. During this visit they were in an encloser where capybaras had been moved to control the grass that was getting too high…and the animals seemed to be gorging on the greens. Only one capybara had been left behind in the normal capybara enclosure which we saw as got close to the zoo’s exit.

The zoo turned out to be a good choice for Father’s Day!

Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge

On our first day in Eureka Springs, we enjoyed the Eureka Springs & Northern Arkansas excursion train and the Blue Spring Heritage Center. We had dinner at a local café (Sparks Roadhouse) and were at the hotel (Quality Inn Eureka Springs South) before the thunderstorms started. The hotel was different than I expected – more Victorian and with gardens. I took a few pictures as we packed up the car after breakfast.

My daughter had give us a Pride Membership to Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge for Christmas and my husband made reservations for our morning tour (one of the benefits of the membership). Before the tour we walked around some of the enclosures. Taking pictures is challenging – requiring focusing on the cat rather than the cage; it’s possible to make the cage (almost) disappear!

In one enclosure there were two cats that were in motion. A staff member did a training session with one of them; using hand motions and sound to prompt the cat to move in certain ways…rewarding with a morsel of food (looked like chicken). This activity makes it easier to assess the animal’s health in the least traumatic way so is something they try with all the animals.

The tour is done on a tram with several parts; we were impressed that the sound system was very good and enjoyed the commentary about each cat.

Servals are not that much bigger than house cats…but they are evidently much more aggressive and spray frequently…they make awful pets. Evidently quite a few people have tried it and most of the rescues are from those failed attempts. They also have a serval – domestic cat cross; it is a bit smaller and looks more like a domestic cat…but has the behavior of a serval!

The enclosures have 3 areas – an enclosed ‘den,’ a night cage that includes the den and some area around it, and the larger enclosure. Most enclosures have two night cages to enable the refuge to house two cats in each (only one cat out in the larger enclosure at a time) to provide backup capacity for emergency rescues. When we were there, the cats (and the grizzly bear) were out in the larger enclosure…enjoying the morning sun.

The refuge offers several forms of lodging and we are considering going back in the fall for that adventure. The cats vocalize more at dawn and dusk!

National Tiger Sanctuary

The National Tiger Sanctuary is only about 30 minutes from our Missouri home; a tram tour of the place on a sunny spring day was a great ‘experience’ for a spring birthday in our family. We arrived about twenty minutes before our tour time…plenty of time to photograph the sculpture above the gate

And sculptures around the building.

There was also a pile of damaged big cat ‘toys’ behind the building.

The tram tour passes between rows of large double/triple wire enclosures – sometimes for single big cats and sometimes shared spaces for siblings or cats that appreciate company. The cats looked healthy although some are hampered by their experience prior to being rescued (i.e. declawed, teeth filed, finicky eaters). Even though the name is ‘tiger sanctuary’ we saw more lions! There have been two ‘surprise’ litters born at a sanctuary (a group of rescued adult lions…the male supposedly had a vasectomy…but two lionesses were having litters!). The litters were 4 cubs each and are almost adults now…so the numbers are skewed toward lions.

We heard vocalizations of cats several times while we were there. Our tour guide said that cool days in spring and fall are not as smelly as warm, humid days. Good to know…made us even more glad we went in April.

There were white tigers and ligers – rescued from breeders or entertainment companies. They tend to have genetic-type health problems in addition (sometimes) to problems with ill treatment. Hopefully the breeding of these big cats is slowing down/stopping.

The sanctuary rescues other animals as well. The lemurs seemed to enjoy having people around; some of them had been ‘pets’ that became problematic for their owner.

There are also some wolf dogs and farm type animals. Providing a ‘forever home’ to all the animals rescued is what the sanctuary is about (not just tigers).

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 16, 2017

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Switching Jobs | FlowingData – How often do people change jobs and what kind of job to they move to. In the field I was in (computer mathematical), almost 70% stay in the field. I certainly did for the duration of my 40 year career.

You’ve Seen the Washington Monument. Now See the Other Washington Monuments | Smart News | Smithsonian – A little history.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #117 – National Geographic Society – I always enjoy the weekly collection of bird pictures.

Autonomous Driving Levels 0–5 + Implications | CleanTechnica – A good reference re autonomous cars. Right now, I have a level 1 car (it has adaptive cruise control). I am hoping that by the time I am very old and want to stop driving that level 5 cars are easily available.

Cataloging Fungal Life in Antarctic Seas | The Scientist Magazine® - Fungi that thrive in extreme conditions…some surprises.

Water-loving cats: Unique Tiger facts – National Geographic Society – I like the last image the best: tigers in the snow.

3 Reasons Why California’s Fire Risk Won’t Dampen Anytime Soon - NPR – I was interested in this article but it didn’t answer the question that I thought it would: In areas where fires are burning now – are they reducing the ‘fuel’ enough that fires will not burn again for a long time…and could we develop techniques to maintain that reduction in ‘fuel’ (i.e. dead wood, brush) without damaging the ecosystem.

In Luxor, Two Tombs Dating Back 3,500 Years Unveil Their Secrets | Smart News | Smithsonian – There seem to be more finds in Egypt recently – but will they be enough to draw tourists back to the region?

The Secret in the Sand Dunes – Cool Green Science – Midway Beach survived Sandy…because they pay a lot of attention to maintaining their dunes --- including after-season Christmas trees to provide structure to dunes…catching sand.

Common psychological traits in group of Italians aged 90 to 101 -- ScienceDaily - Study finds group displays distinct optimism, stubbornness and bond with family, religion and land