Airfest 2009-There's Still Time

I just got home from Airfest 2009 at Macdill Air Force Base up in Tampa. Got some great shots that I hope to share with you soon (and a spot on my lens or image sensor that I need to fix...) The show continues tomorrow, but it's supposed to rain the morning. So if airplanes like this make you get all excited, head up there once the rain stops. You won't regret it. And it's free!

E-Who?

Yes, it's an emu. A large flightless bird, only slightly smaller than an ostrich. Caught this guy at Big Cat Habitat this weekend. He looks a little unkempt and/or mean, but he was a nice guy, eating corn from the hands of little kids. I think he's giving me the eyeball because I didn't feed him anything.

Lions And Tigers And Bears, Again

As I just mentioned, I journeyed out to a big cat rescue place this weekend that I had heard of but never visited. I don't know why I'd never been there, since it's only a few miles from my house, but I hadn't. It's called Big Cat Habitat And Gulf Coast Sanctuary. They're a little more oriented towards the circus show animals than my usual cat place, but they still have a lot of impressive animals, and they do a little show with them, to show you what some of these animals are capable of. The first big cat I saw when I got there is this lioness, just chilling out in her own private swimming pool. She didn't seem to have a care in the world, all the tourists with their cameras walking by, and she's not paying us a bit of mind.

Up next was this tiger, rolling around on his back with his tongue hanging out, again, not a care in the world, just enjoying the life of Riley in the sanctuary.

And finishing up the Oh, My! trio is this bear, hanging out in his huge bear pool. Sorry about all the fencing between the camera and the animals, but they have to do something to keep us paparazzi safe.

Non-Jewish Goats

I visited a new big cat sanctuary this weekend, but before I show you any of the big cats, or the bears or the emus or camels or raccoons or monkeys or even the lemurs, I wanted to show you one of their goats. Isn't he just the cutest little thing? I just thought he was a cute little goatling (or kid, I guess they're called), but the sign below let me know that this is actually a gentile goat. I didn't know they came in different religions, did you? (Insert your own non-PC joke here, I'm not gonna do it...)

Little Green Birdies

Well, I tried for a couple of hours last night to post some content to the old blog, but Picassa just wouldn't cooperate. She seems to be a little more agreeable tonight, so let me see how much of my weekend I can share with you before she conks out again. I had stopped in front of the public library on Fruitville Saturday morning to take some pictures of a giant book (which you may or may not see later) when I heard the incessant chatter of quaker parrots. I'm always hearing these guys, but they're difficult to see and even harder to shoot because of their green coloration and rather reclusive behavior. So I got really lucky when I caught this pair working on a new nest. You can see both of them above, checking out the interior, and just one of them below, weaving some new sticks onto the outside. And all the way at the bottom is one of the pair just hanging out, waiting for just the right time to take off on a new stick gathering mission. These guys are not native here, but there are dozens if not hundreds of wild flocks around here, eating all sorts of natural foods and making tons of noise. But it's pretty neat to have wild parrots flying around, noisy or not!