August 10th, 2008 Como Zoo

We took the kids to Como Zoo Sunday afternoon, parking was insane. The Polar Bears are currently unavailable while they build the new Polar Bear Odyssey opening in 2010.

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August 10th, 2008 Marjorie McNeely Conservatory Water Lilies

We did not actually go inside, on the way into the zoo, I took 2 quick series of shots of the dome for HDR but, quite honestly the normal exposure was perfect. I did not have a wide angle lens along so I just shot the dome. (non-HDR)

The outside of the conservatory was littered with water Lillie’s . I tried playing with the reflections on some of them but, in some cases the stars would just not align in some instances.

Five more thumbnails, click on the thumbnails to see the ‘bigger’ versions.

Now these were just cool.

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August 10th, 2008 Grizzly Bears

The Minnesota Zoo is just 15 minutes away, about 12 miles. We have been members for most of the last 10 years or so with very few lapses in between. We hit it often in the winter when many of the animals are much more active while the visitors to the zoo is sadly almost nill outside. In any event, it makes it easy to head over to the zoo for a specific task for a short period of time. The new Grizzly’s merit some serious work. Today I hit the 10am training, I have been told a couple times now that the Grizzly’s are most active during the training (and before or just after) and again in the evening, otherwise like many of the other animals at the zoo in the summer they mostly lay around all day. Hoping to make it for opening I was late, I hit the zoo parking lot around 9:30 and made it to the grizzly’s by 9:35 (membership has it’s privileges). The bears were relaxing, while some would sleep in the sun, now and then they would burro a hole in order to reach the cooler damp sand to lie in.

Daily training began promptly at 10am. The bear’s are not yet full grown, training is in it’s very basic stages and is voluntary, Sadie decided not to participate today.

Sadie immediately after training ended did some exploring.

I kind of like this zoo thing, Grizzly bears are dangerous and have been attributed to the deaths of 25 people in North America since 2000 including Timothy Treadwell in 2003. Sure I have to shoot through glass but, at least I don’t have to carry a rifle (/pepper spray).

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