It is no secret that I have a soft corner for elephants and monkeys.. especially elephants.
Here is one of the pictures of the elephants in San Diego Zoo..
Loved processing this one into a Black and White image and retain the color only on the leaves he was eating. Had done a similar picture years ago where only the eyes had color . . .
More pictures tomorrow..
I had all but forgotten about the zoo pictures from the New Year's eve trip to San Diego. Things catch up and before you know it, the photoblog series came to an abrupt end.. or blogging for that matter.
Was not feeling well last two days but made up for some quiet time this afternoon with photo editing. Here, are the birds that posed.
Majesty even in captivity!
This guy was posing for portraits!
Almost all the shots here were taken with the 70-200.. some with the now working extender at 400mm.
This one is not a bird but rather the tail feathers.. the bird kept sticking its head into the feathers. Waited for almost 5 mintues but had to move on with the group..
it was one long feather.. at least 30 inches long and absolutely gorgeous.
The Kookaburra is one shy bird. This one kept shuffling around. Was glad to catch the colors on the tail feathers.
when it came to "color" , this one takes first place!
This one is a close second..
THis is the first time we saw a secretary bird in a zoo. They could have done a better enclosure for this one instead of a thin long strip facing the road. A bird this beautiful deserves to be free. . or at least a better enclosure.
Last but not least, a dove that came and posed for me. This is my favorite picture of the entire bird set.
On to other beautiful creatures, big and small tomorrow..
The next stop on our 2015 year end trip from Suresh Mama's house?
Leo Carrillo Ranch historic park.
It was the ranch of the famous actor and park activist Leo Carrillo which now has been turned into a park with a visitor center.
The highlight of the park? 22 peacocks and peahens that are the decendents of a few birds brought from India many decades ago.
They are free to go anywhere but apparently have made the ranch their permanent home! One of the peacocks is an albino..
We spent an hour at this park and walked a small trail there. Let the kids have fun watching and following the birds..
There were many interesting questions raised.. why is the male more prettier than the female? shouldn't it be the other way around? girls are the ones that have to look pretty, no?!
There may be really good answers out there on why this difference between peacocks and humans.. but most of the adults in the group just let it slide.
Here are some Peacock and peahen portraits from the park.
We searched as far as we could before the park closed.. but could not sight the albino peacock. Some things have to wait for the next visit, eh?
Here is a family portrait, thanks to Suresh ...
Loved the place!
Copyright © 2012, Sundar Narayanan. All rights reserved.