Huntington Beach State Park site #119
It’s been a cool overcast day but it’s our last full day here. We have to leave tomorrow to go back to our stix n brix and the job. We decided to go back to Brookgreen Gardens to check out the zoo. It has a nice paved walkway amongst the trees to shelter you from the cool breezes. The animals have a natural habitat to surround them and they are all rescue animals. The birds of prey have been injured or were born in captivity and cannot live on their own in the wild. Some owls had three healthy hatchlings a few years ago and they were released into the wild. Gin took a lot of photos but I’ll try to cut it down to just a couple dozen. Enjoy…
The first exhibit area was of a Cypress Swamp dominated by bald cypress and tupelo gum trees. The water is a dark tannin color from the decaying of leaves and such. There was an aviary with great blue herons…
white ibis…
black-crowned night herons which are more active at night…
and cattle egrets which are social creatures like this one on the walkway coming towards us…
The next exhibit was the river otters River Basin Retreat which were very interesting to watch. They can hold their breath for up to 8 minutes, can swim up to 7 mph, and run up to15 mph. They have so much playful energy. The first display was a tank that housed two that were nonstop action. The next display was a more natural setting. They use plastic dog houses for their homes and two were curled up napping while another was swimming in the water…
Then there was the North American Alligator. He had an exhibit all to himself, of course. He was big. He didn’t move but we did see him blink so he was real and not a rock…
The next exhibit area was the Upland Forest which is a little higher and drier than the Lowcountry swamps. There were displays of foxes and birds of prey in their secure aviaries. As we approached the fox display, we could smell a pungent odor. Since the fox is in the same family as dogs, they mark their territory with their urine. It was a strong smell. First for the red fox …
and then the gray fox. I was surprised to see them up in a tree but they have strong hooked claws enabling them to climb much like a cat. Both species are nocturnal…
There is a mating pair of Bald Eagles with the female nesting a couple of eggs…
Next is a Great Horned Owl…
and a Barred Owl…
Then a Red-Shouldered Hawk…
and a Red-Tailed Hawk with the female keeping her eggs warm…
Then we came upon a more natural display called the Forest Edge. The habitat is a little more open. They had several bird feeders full of food for the titmouse and cardinals but this Southern Fox Squirrel was eating his share. They are bigger than the gray squirrels that we are familiar with. He posed for several shots…
There were Canada Geese and White Swan but they were camera shy staying at the far end of the pond. The Wild Turkey had some proud tom’s displaying their plumage...
The last aviary had some owls and vultures in a very natural setting. The vultures weren’t shy but they are not very photogenic. :) We did see a pair of barred owls up in a tree resting…
The last habitat was the Savannah. It was a very open area that had some deer in the edge of the trees just resting. We could barely see them because they are shy. You have to enlarge the photo by clicking on the pic to see her…
I hope you enjoyed coming with us to the zoo. As you can tell, we love animals. I wouldn’t mind volunteering here for a couple of months for free camping across the road, if that is a possibility. We need to pack up a few things for the ride tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment