San Diego Zoo

One of the many highlights of our vacation to San Diego was spending a day at the San Diego Zoo. This Zoo was extremely clean, the vegetation and walking paths/bridges were just as impressive as the exhibits themselves.

 

Peacocks were hanging out at the rooftop of the entrance, giving us a show before we even got inside.

It was still early for the Flamingos.

The monkeys seemed to have just as much fun watching us, as we had watching them.

 

"Freeloader"

The Koala's are having a new exhibit built, it's supposed to open the spring of 2013.  These guys are so cute it's sickening.

Red Panda.

The baby panda was not on exhibit yet, but the adults were breathtakingly adorable and majestic.

This guy and his brother were brought to the zoo as cubs, they were being taught how it was easier to raid garbage cans than forage for food. Wildlife officials decided it would be best for everyone involved that they be transferred out of the Yellowstone area to the Zoo.

Baby Giraffe!

Papa

 They woke up! This is a second group of Flamingos, the Caribbean Flamingo, they were at the other end of the zoo. By time we got to them, it was 95 degrees and 5 hours from when we started. 

kitty

We were busy working this weekend, so I don't have a new "set" of photos to share, but here's a cute kitty that lives in one of the stores downtown.

Nisqually Wildlife Refuge

The Nisqually River Delta, a biologically rich and diverse area at the southern end of Puget Sound, supports a variety of habitats.  Here, the freshwater of the Nisqually River combines with the saltwater of Puget Sound to form an estuary rich in nutrients and detritus.  These nutrients support a web of sea life - the benefits of which extend throughout Puget Sound and beyond.
                                                                 - http://www.fws.gov/refuge/nisqually/

Living in Washington state for my entire life, I have only been to the refuge twice, the first time being last year. It took us a long time to visit because dogs are not allowed. We fell in love with the area because all but a short section of the walking path is a wooden boardwalk. It's a clean, safe place to take in a 2-4 mile walk. 

Blue Heron's are often seen feeding in the area.

The tide was still in while we were here on this day.

The grasslands of the refuge.

A lot of ducks are in the area. In fact, the farthest portion of the trail closes between October and January for waterfowl hunting season. There are areas nearby that are open to hunters and for the safety of the public, the boardwalk at the farthest point of the property is off-limits.

Not EXACTLY sure what kind of raptor this is. 

Best suggestion I have heard is rough-legged hawk.

Here's it's backside. Not one of my favorite pics, but I wanted to add it in case anyone wants to give their suggestion on what kind of bird this is.

cheating

Yes, I do think it's cheating, but sometimes enhancing a photo through your software just looks really nice and it's fun.

"Enhancing" is like ghetto HDR (yes we will make real HDR photos someday.) Right now, thanks to Iphoto we have this:

before:

 After:

This retouch was done with a program, Photomatix. We removed all pigments except blue hues.

 Before:

After:

Original:

Decreasing all pigments besides blue:

Noise reduction and adjusting contrast, saturation and reds in finishing touches:

Original:

Bippity Boppity Boo!

Original:

A click of the mouse and a flick of the wand...Voila!