I know that it is strange for me to say this, but my favorite part of Riverbanks Zoo is feeding the Lorikeets.  For a dollar I can walk in and feed the cute little birdies some nectar.  The nectar doesn’t last too long, but the birds usually come very close too you and will occasionally even sit on your arm.  This is one aspect that I really liked about the Hangzhou Safari Park in China.  I got to feed all sorts of animals there including Rhinos, Tigers, Monkeys and Lemurs.  The little Monkeys were just adorable.  I remember one trying to steal my water bottle out of my back pocket.  Aside from some of the animals being mistreated there, it is probably one of my favorite zoos.

Me feeding the Lorikeets at Riverbanks Zoo

Usually, the Lorikeets are much more active and will jump on me to get to the nectar when I go to the zoo, but it was late in the day on a Saturday, and they had been fed already by a score of visitors. Most of them were hiding in the foliage trying to avoid the crowd. I’m sure most of their bellies were about to bust.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOjkJhJHysw[/youtube]

Usually, when I go to the zoo, the turtles are just sitting there soaking up the sun, but on Saturday, we happened to show up shortly after they had been fed.  Lucky for us, turtles take a while to eat and I was able to snap a few pictures and a video.  In New Mexico, we had lots of turtles living in our backyard.  It was like a tropical paradise for them with all the plants we had.  They weren’t nearly as big as this guy, of course.  Isn’t he cute?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMXq6S8cF90[/youtube]

I have spent hours watching our fleet of hummingbirds feed and fight and all I have to show for it is two stupid videos.  I had to post them though, because they are just that adorable.  I wish I had a video of them dive bombing each other over and over. That is a pretty funny sight.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqySZH–xKE[/youtube]

My favorite part is when he sticks out his tongue.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF7aPzXd9a0[/youtube]

If they would just sit still long enough and let me get closer, I could probably get a half decent video, but no – they hate me.

I think that I have been using too many words lately, so lets take a break and look at some pictures I’ve taken in the last couple of months or so.  If you believe in a picture is worth a thousands word, well, then technically I am using even more words in this post.  🙂

I was very sad that this little bee was dying, but he did allow me the opportunity to take some pretty cool pictures. I swear it looks like he has teeth.  Bees don’t have teeth do they?

I don’t know why, but I really like this picture.  I just wish the stupid fire hydrant wasn’t in the middle of them.  Who puts a fire hydrant in the middle of set of trees?

One of the cabins located at Cedar Lakes, West Virginia.

I must have take 30 pictures of this dirty little statue, and this is one of the only ones I liked.

I think I have a thing for statues.

Really, I do.

I wish the robin had let me a bit closer and that his face wasn’t as dark.

I don’t know what is was with all of the creatures I was trying to photograph, but none of them wanted to stay in one place for more than half a second and they all happened to be just a wee too far away.

Me trying to be artistic.

The video quality sucks, but my commentary kinda makes up for it.

Several years ago I started collecting Pez.  After I had collected over a one hundred or so, I ran out of space to display them.  That is when I started pinning them to the wall.  Eventually, they covered the perimeter of my room, and not long after that two of my walls were completely dedicated to Pez.  If I hadn’t stopped collecting, every inch of my room would be covered in Pez. I can only imagine what the ants thought when the found my room.  They probably screamed, “Jackpot!”

I don’t know how many I have now, but I am pretty sure it’s something like three or four hundred.  A few of them are worth some money, but the majority of them are worth less than what I paid.  People ask me why I still keep them.  I tell them that one day the world will run out of food, and when it does,  I’ll be able to survive a few days longer than everyone else.  🙂

I was very nice to the army of invading ants.  I didn’t want to kill them, so I got a piece of paper, scooped them all up and took them all outside.  It took about four trips.  As they all scuried away, I told them not to come back.  And so far, they haven’t.  🙂

Invading Ants

[myspace]http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1286725[/myspace]

This past weekend, Phil and I went up to his parent’s lake house to fish. While we were there, I noticed this little Anole chilling on the porch and took a picture of him. Being spring and all, I’m surprised he was brown instead of green.

He wouldn’t let me get too close to him, so I credit my camera with the nice crisp clean shot that I got. I swear he was posing for me. He kept turning his head in different directions, as if he were saying, “This is my better side.” After his photo session was done, he crawled in between the screen and the wood.