Kitties and Storks

iPhone and I took a couple of days off. Besides being nearly beaten to death by a door and a desk on Thursday, the cold, wet weather kept me pretty much in my apartment, where it was safe.

This afternoon, another wet day, I thought I’d head out. It was cold, but I was just planning a short walk. I headed towards Lincoln Park, to the pond, which is a nice walk, not too far, but far enough to call it a “walk.”

Here we see a goose out enjoying his own little walk around the pond.

I saw him walk back and forth along that strip twice. No one dared walk on it with him there. It was kind of funny.

Behind me was this pretty little garden. A nice place to stop and rest my toes.

From here, I decided to go find out who the horsey dude was. If you don’t remember horsey dude, here he is.

Well, I looked inside the little archway – no information. The only thing I found was this (glad I took my “real” camera with the zoom:

I googled the name… and I still have no idea who this is. If someone knows, please post a comment.

Meanwhile, I headed to the zoo. It was too windy and cold this close to the lake, and I was feeling pretty good, so I wanted to walk a little more. I’ve never really been through the zoo, so I just took my time and walked around. I found the kitties, which I just love. I was surprised to see all of them up and moving. All of them were pacing back and forth – like they were nervous. It was a little weird.

Anyway, here’s the jaguar. I want one.

Here’s another kitty. I want it too.

I think this was another jaguar, but couldn’t see the sign because of all the people in my way. They’re as bad as the garbage cans.

Now this cat was really bizarre. This pose that he’s in… he stayed in that same position the entire time I was in the kitty house. I have no idea what it was doing other than staring at the ground.

My indoor pictures of the tiger were too blurry to post. I’ll head back and try to get some better shots to post. Now that I know where the kitties are, I’ll probably visit them frequently. Anyway, here’s an outdoor picture of the tiger. I think this is a Siberian Tiger.

One thing I noticed is that the upper part of the enclosure (on the left) is only maybe 20 feet from where I took the picture. I think that if a tiger, this big, wanted to, he would have enough room to run and then jump it. So, I want one of these, too.

Well, that was the end of the kitties. I couldn’t get good pictures of the lion. Too many people and he kept himself kinda hidden in his enclosure.

I was going to head back home. It was cold back outside, but then I saw the Birds of Prey area. I love raptors. I was so excited. Kitties and raptors in one day! But then I saw this:

The bird sitting there under the big “Birds of Prey” sign… eagle? Nope. Hawk? Wrong again. Stork… yep. The most fearsome bird of prey ever. The dreaded stork. Needless to say, I was disappointed.

Around the corner, there was a real bird of prey. Not a favorite of mine, but still, it looked like a raptor. I probably should have taken a closer shot with my camera and not my iPhone. But you can still see the vulture. He was big. Probably a good 18-24 inches long. Big beak.

From here I went into the bird house (because it would be warmer). I was also hoping there would be some raptors in there. There weren’t, but there were some pretty birds. Here are a couple of shots.

This first one has two birds – both blue. They were very pretty. I don’t remember what kind of birds they are.

Here’s another bird (again, no idea what kind. I don’t read the signs. I just name them all Rupert).

Again, I should have used my camera with the zoom. Oh well, next time.

Here’s my last bird picture. He looked really silky.

After my trip to the bird house, I managed to get turned around (and subsequently lost) and my walk ended up taking longer than expected. I eventually found the bridge:

I waddled my way to Clark Street and made it safely home where I made some sloppy joes and had some orange juice.

And of course, once I got all comfy and started this blog post, the sun came out.
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All photos were taken by me, Letricia Brooks. Feel free to use them for whatever you want. Attribution or a link back to my site would be nice, but not required.