The Cormorant, the Dragonfly, and the Bee: September 2016

Sunday, September 18, 2016

Buttonwood Park Zoo and New Bedford Fishing Trawlers

Deb had an all day meeting in New Bedford. I skipped the meeting and went hunting for good photo fodder instead.

It'd been awhile since I've been to a zoo, and I'd forgotten how much fun it can be, especially on a nice sunny day, armed with a camera. New Bedford's Buttonwood Park Zoo is a small zoo, so instead of being overwhelmed with throngs of people, it was very approachable, pleasant, and fun to visit. There were many moms and children enjoying the day, with an occasional dad or two, along with perhaps two photographers: myself and another fellow I met. One could get quite close to most of the animals. All shots are handheld, with my telephoto.

I was fortunate to visit the zoo just when it was time for them to feed a couple of newly adopted bobcats. These animals were roughly four to six weeks old, I believe, the zoo having adopted them after they were found motherless. The resemblance to household cats is remarkable, but make no mistake: these are wild animals, just very young ones!

Several photos, including this first one, are at ISO 3200, as we were mostly in the shade for the bobcat feeding.

Bobcat Face 1

My, what big paws you have!

Big Paws

Bobcat Face 2

I rather enjoy this next photo due to the swirling quality of the parts surrounding the bobcat's face.

Bobcat Face 3

Pointy Ears

These girls watched the bobcats with great interest.

Mesmerized

Check out this elephant's skin tone.

Elephant's Eye

Furry Friends

I spent a fair amount of time observing the ducks. They were an active, colorful, and splashy group!

This first photo is of a species not native to North America, but of an endangered typical merganser from temperate East Asia.

Scaly-sided Merganser

These next blue-billed ducks are a bit of a mystery to me. I think they may be hybrids or perhaps diet has affected their bill color. The baby or sky blue bill color captured is precisely how it looked to me. I wrote to the zoo asking them what kind of ducks these are, but I've received no reply so far. If anyone knows, please comment!

Brown and Blue

Brown Eyes in the Sun

Wet Bill

I've never seen a Wood duck in the wild, though they do frequent North America. Extremely colorful!

Wood Duck 1

Wood Duck 2

Here's a sandhill crane:

S-shape

Adult Bobcat

Pig in Mud 1

Pig in Mud 2

This sunflower was watching over the pig in mud. It was quite high up: perhaps ten feet.

Sunflower

Here's the same sunflower photo cropped closer.

Sunflower Detail

Cute Zoo Train

And a closer crop:

Cute Kids on the Cute Train

Sea World

The previous and next shot were through glass.

Bear

Common Tern

Thus ends the zoo part of the show.

I left the zoo, and moved on to the New Bedford waterfront and decided the sides of the rusty fishing trawlers provided some good abstract art, and some fun color, in any case.