After the first day at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, stayed at Dos Picos County Park in Romona. It’s a nice park that I’ve stayed at before.

In the African lion exhibit, the male lion jumped onto a platform right next to a floor-to-ceiling glass window. He had the same look that the male African lion had at the San Diego Zoo when he growled at a keeper walking by, calm on the surface but you don’t know what’s going on inside. A female lion had been sniffing the ground and then started making faces.

A gorilla enjoying a cob of corn. There is no glass around the gorilla enclosure. With all the busloads of kids that go through the exhibit, think glass would be a good idea both to lessen the noise the gorillas have to endure and to prevent kids from throwing things into the exhibit.

The lorikeet exhibit

Andean-cock-of-the-rock taking a bath.

Have been at Rancho Jurupa Regional Park in Riverside for about a week. Have been surprised at the wide variety of birds I have been seeing. There are the regulars that I have seen in the past, as well as some new ones.

Do not recall seeing a kestral (above) before.

Have seen a number of black-crowned night herons, as I have in the past.

Blue herons and egrets are here as well. Saw a blue heron hunting for gophers this morning. The park has finally hired a gopher control professional who is putting some type of gas into the gopher tunnels.

It’s funny how a blue heron, a night heron, and a great egret will stand side by side next to the water, but will usually get territorial and chase away their own species.

Black phoebe (top) and a Say’s phoebe (lower).

Not sure what kind of woodpecker this is. Doesn’t look like any of the pictures in my bird book.

A lot of birds are here as part of a flock. These include Western kingbirds (top), Western bluebirds (middle), and Cedar Waxwings (botton). I have never seen cedar waxwings here before. Also have had first time sightings of Western meadowlarks, but haven’t gotten a good picture yet.

A few more photos from the San Diego Zoo. Above is a Turkmenistan Caracal, an endangered cat found in the Middle East and Africa. At the zoo it is located next to the polar bears. I was watching the polar bear cam the other day and saw the outline of the cat’s ears in the background. If you didn’t know better, you’d think it was an antelope or deer.

Below, Frank the one-year-old male gorilla, is watching an adult female gorilla eat a green pepper. Parts of it is in her right hand and her left foot. Frank had tried to get some of it, but she wanted it for herself.

Above: Su-Lin, the 4-year-old sister of Zhen Zhen.

I have spent a week in San Diego, going to the zoo almost every day. Finally getting to know my way around. Hope to return in January or February to see the new male panda cub. Believe he will go on exhibit in December.

Top: Koala

Lower: meerkats

It is so much fun to watch Kalluk play ball. He bounces it both upwards and downward through the water.

Silverback gorilla. “All I get is lettuce to eat?”

Chinese Snow leopard

Have been enjoying the San Diego Zoo the past few days. I follow the polar bears and the pandas via their webcams and it’s good to see them in person. Also, you get a good workout walking around the zoo, as you are always either going up or down a hill.

Above: Kalluk, the adult male polar bear with a mouth full of carrots.

Top picture: a gorilla striking a pose.

Lower picture: Frank, a one-year-old gorilla that all the gorilla’s have been helping to raise. He had been watching an adult eat a green pepper. He may be holding part of a green pepper plant and not sure he likes the taste.

Some zoo employees were leading two camels down a road. The camels would stop every few feet and need some coaxing to proceed.

A number of herons and great egrets are fly-in guests of the zoo.

Below: Su Lin enjoying her bamboo sitting in a tree.