Just Another Day At The Zoo

Just another day at the zoo for this chimpanzee.

Another day at the Gulf Breeze Zoo. This time it was for "Boo at the Zoo" and all the little kids, including my grandkids, were in Halloween costumes and trick-or-treating at the zoo.

What a gorgeous face.

If you happen to be in northwest Florida, be sure to check out our great little zoo.

Gulf Breeze Zoo

Boo at the Zoo

What a beautiful color.

The zoo critters had different reactions to the costumed kids. Some were fascinated and others, like one of the chimpanzees, wasn't the least bit impressed with the day's visitors.

The male tiger watching the costumed kids.

The male tiger seemed particularly interested in the kids. His expression was "I bet they taste like chicken."

One of the many roosters wandering around the zoo.

After three and a half hours at the zoo I'm exhausted. So this is just a very short post with an assortment of photos I couldn't resist posting.



The giraffes are always eager for a handout.

I have a year long pass for the zoo and am a frequent visitor, which means I take lots of zoo photos. So please stop back from time to time to see my latest photos.

The elephant wishing well at the zoo.

Wishing y'all a wonderful week.

Florida Fall Flowers

Roses at the Gulf Breeze Zoo.

Florida is truly the land of flowers and Fall is no exception. An assortment of pinks, reds, lavenders and blues are found just about everywhere.

Flowers I can't begin to name.

I happen to love flowers. So when I went to the Gulf Breeze Zoo the weekend before last I took bunches of photos of the flowers I found there.








Crepe Myrtle at the Gulf Breeze Zoo.

Some of the flowers I recognized: Roses, Crepe Myrtle and Oleander. Many others I couldn't even begin to name. (If you happen to know the names of some of these flowers, please feel free to comment below.)

No, I can't name these either.

My grandkids wanted to know why I was taking photos of flowers instead of just the animals and, of course, them. Yes, my grandkids always want photos taken of them wherever they go.

Lavender-Blue flowers a bit out of focus.

Well, my last post included some of the photos I took of the Rhinos, Zebras, Gorillas and other zoo animals. So it seemed only fair that today's post is all about those gorgeous flowers at the zoo.

More flowers I can't name.

If you want to visit the Gulf Breeze Zoo to see those flowers and zoo animals up close and personal, well, here's the link below so you'll know how to get there.

Gulf Breeze Zoo in NW Florida

I haven't a clue on this one.

Since I have a one year zoo pass I'll be visiting the zoo quite often, which means lots more photos of flowers and zoo animals.


Oleanders at the Gulf Breeze Zoo.

I hope you'll stop by from time to time to check out my posts and photos. I even post about writing every now and then. Gee, imagine that.

Magnolia seedpods are more colorful than the blooms.

I promise that my next post will be about books. After all, I love books even more than flowers, which is saying a lot.

Zebras, Rhinos and Gorillas, Oh My!

Rwanda, the Lowland Gorilla at the Gulf Breeze Zoo.

What better way to start the Fall Season than a trip to the zoo? So that's just what I did today with my grandkids. The Gulf Breeze Zoo is small, but it's so much fun.

Gulf Breeze Zoo in Northwest Florida

Rhinos on the run. Where's the food?

It was raining off and on, so everything was pretty wet.

Today we got to see the Zebras and Rhinos being fed, along with Llamas, Ostriches and other zoo animals I couldn't even begin to name.

Zebras heading for brunch.

It was pretty impressive to see Rhinos on the run. I swear the ground was shaking underfoot. The Zebras also arrived at a run.

Chow time at the zoo.

I've never been this close to Rhinos and Zebras. I was definitely as awed as my grandkids.

Chow time. Do we have to share?

My grandkids kept saying, "Nana, take another picture." So that's just what I did. Lots and lots of zoo photos. I already have about a zillion zoo photos, but I can always take more.

The regal Silverback Gorilla.

Rwanda, the female Lowland Gorilla, was as photogenic as ever. The huge Silverback Gorilla was very regal. I tried to get some photos of Kigali, the baby Gorilla, but he was in constant motion and his photos were just a blur.

If you like zoo pics, be sure to check out my previous zoo posts. Also, since I have a one year zoo pass, I'll be posting more zoo pics from time to time.

Here's Looking at You - A Day at the Zoo

One of the many llamas at the zoo.

Yesterday I spent the day at the zoo with my grandkids. The Gulf Breeze Zoo is one of my favorite places and I had such a grand time with the kids and taking bunches of photos. So when I went through those photos this morning I decided that I just had to share some of them with you.







Kenya, one of the three giraffes at the zoo.

I'm sure all those beautiful critters at the zoo are just as fascinated with us as we are with them. I can just imagine what they're thinking as they gaze at us human critters. Hmm! "That one looks pretty tasty." Or "That one is pretty cute." Or "Oh, no, a face only a mother could love."

One of the many roosters wandering about.

Friday was my birthday and Saturday was my day at the zoo. One of my presents from my grandkids and my daughter and her husband, was a Year Pass to the zoo and the zoo train. So very cool. Now I'll be going to the zoo all the time. What fun!









The young Lion is now over a year old.

If you're ever in the area, the Gulf Breeze Zoo is definitely worth the visit. Though it's a small zoo, it's a great place to spend a few hours. If you love taking photos, like I do, then you'll be sure have a grand time.

The Gulf Breeze Zoo - In NW Florida

One of the two Bengal Tigers at the zoo.

It was a cloudy zoo day, with rain and drizzle off and on. I didn't mind the wet since that meant the day didn't get too hot. On the other hand, my photos all seem to reflect the gray day. Oh well, I still had a great time. And my grandkids, particularly my four and a half year old twin granddaughters, danced their way around the zoo.

Feeding one of the many colorful Budgies.

One of my grandkids' favorite stops is the Free Flight Aviary where you can feed the colorful Budgies. Usually you end up with several Budgies on your hand, arm, shoulder or even your head. We always spend quite a bit of time with the friendly Budgies.

There are a couple of benches in the Free Flight Aviary, so it's a great place to settle down and spend some time. It also provides for some great photo ops.

Peacock chicks were wandering all around the zoo.

One of the cool things about this zoo visit was all the Peacock chicks which were wandering around all over the zoo. They loved the special feed that you can buy at the zoo for $3.00 per cup. My grandkids were totally delighted with the Peacock chicks.

One of the Red Kangaroos taking a rest.

By the end of our zoo visit, I was as tired as the Red Kangaroos lazing in their pen. All in all, it was a really fun day.

Since I now have a Year Zoo Pass, I'll be visiting quite often. So please stop back from time to time to see more zoo posts with lots of fun photos.

Happy Mother's Day to Y'all

Mama and baby at the Gulf Breeze Zoo.

Mothers come in all shapes and sizes. Lately I've enjoyed watching the baby birds learning to fly and the baby squirrels venturing from their nests and crazily chasing each other up and down the trees. The proud mamas are usually nearby, sometimes encouraging and often scolding their young. Sound familiar?

I think my favorite mama and baby these days are Rwanda and Kigali, Western Lowland Gorillas at the Gulf Breeze Zoo. Kigali is over a year old now and it's obvious that mama Rwanda is so very proud of him.

If you want to know more about our local zoo, check out this link: Gulf Breeze Zoo

For those who might be interested, I'm the Mother of one awesome daughter and the Nana/Grandma to three gorgeous, bright, incredibly energetic young grandkids. I'm looking forward to my Mother's Day breakfast with them.

My own mother is 350 miles away in the Atlanta area. I'll be on the phone with her on Mother's Day talking about all the things mothers and daughters universally discuss. It would be nice if we could all live in houses side by side in the same neighborhood, but these days families are often spread from one end of the country to another. As the saying goes, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." So maybe that is true?

As many of you already know, I'm also the "Mama" to two big dogs, Shani and Dude. I have several photos of the two at the bottom of my blog.

I'm hoping this Mother's Day brings joy and happy memories to all. This is a time to think of the good days and let the not-so-good ones fade into the background. On the whole, our mothers mean well even if we don't agree with them all the time.

Here's wishing a Happy Mother's Day to y'all.

Hippo Encounter at the Zoo

A hungry hippo.

I spent yesterday at the zoo with my grandkids and other family members. It was a fun family day. My grandkids were full of energy. By the way, where do they get all that energy? Was I that energized way-back-when? Anyway, the highlight of this zoo trip was a hippo encounter where we got to see the two hippos up close and fed them big chunks of carrots. All I can say is "Awesome!"

Gulf Breeze Zoo

Isn't he a handsome boy?

The zoo I'm talking about is the Gulf Breeze Zoo. It's small in comparison to other zoos, but it also provides an intimacy with the animals which isn't always found in big zoos. The animals there are almost like family. In fact, my grandkids often remind of the little monkeys in the zoo and I've told them that more than once.

Cleopatra, the mama-to-be hippo.

There are two hippos at the Gulf Breeze Zoo. Cleopatra is the expectant mama hippo who is due any day. The papa hippo is the handsome guy in the two pics above. I'll definitely go back to the zoo for pics of the new baby hippo.

It was a beautiful day at the zoo with temps in the high-60s. That's one of the things I love about Florida, great temps all year long. Gee, it was hard to believe that winter and Christmas are only days away.





One of the peacocks strutting his stuff.

Even the peacocks seemed to think it was spring rather than almost winter. This gorgeous male peacock was in full display and put on quite a show. If I were a female peacock, well, I would have been impressed.






Rwanda and baby Kigali.

This visit to the zoo I was able to get pics of the mama gorilla, Rwanda, with her baby, Kigali. Last time we were there the baby was sleeping. This time he was showing off, but sticking close to his mama. These two are Western Lowland Gorillas.

Zion the lion cub.

Zion, the four and a half month old lion cub, has been moved to a big outdoor pen next to the pair of Siberian Tigers. Zion seemed to be quite happy and was romping around playing with a big ball. Then he climbed up into his tree for some time to relax out.

As one of my granddaughters pointed out, "Zion needs a friend." I assured her that the zoo is going to get a female lion cub to keep Zion company. And yes, the zoo is currently looking for just the right cub.






The two chimps on Chimp Island

I took quite a number of pics of the two chimps. Some of the pics were taken from the Zoo Train which circles Chimp Island, the hippos and Gorilla Island. The other pics were taken from the long wood walkway that overlooks Chimp Island.

This is the chimp who was blowing kisses.

One  chimp in particular seemed to love the camera and his audience. He blew kisses, played peek-a-boo, smiled, waved and seemed just as happy to see us as we were to see him.

All in all it was a really fun day at the zoo. Four whole hours and I was exhausted. My grandkids, on the other hand, were still energized. Ahhh, to be young.

For those who follow my blog, I usually add a list of books at the end of my posts. However, in this case, I haven't come across any additional zoo related reads. So please check out my previous November post, "Zoo Tails," for some fun/interesting zoo reads and some cool zoo pics.

Thanks again for visiting my blog. I hope you all will stop by from time to time.

Zoo Tails

Zion, the lion cub.

Saturday I had a Girls' Day Out at the zoo with my daughter and twin granddaughters. What an awesome day! We were there bright and early when the zoo first opened and just in time for Zoo Tots, a once a month program which teaches little kids about zoo animals. There was story time, a frog game and then off to see the animals.

Here's the link for our wonderful zoo:

Gulf Breeze Zoo

The highlight of Zoo Tots was getting an up-close introduction to the newest addition, Zion, a three and a half month old lion cub from a zoo in Arkansas. We all sat very quietly on the zoo train track while Zion's zoo-keeper-mama told us all about the cub. He made plenty of lion cub sounds, not all that pleased with an audience of mostly children and he wasn't allowed to "play."



The unconcerned rooster.

When a zoo rooster walked over to the cub he went on alert and was ready to help himself to a fresh meal. Zion is only twenty-something pounds at the moment, but he still figured he could take on a rooster. Of course, the rooster wasn't at all concerned and went on his way.



Dora, the coatimundi.

The next part of Zoo Tots was meeting the two Coatimundis, Dora and Diego.  Their zoo-keeper-mama brought them out of their pen for a "close" encounter. The two year old coatis wore dog harnesses and were on a leash, which enabled them to have a semblance of freedom. My twin granddaughters approved of the names and thought the coatis were quite cool.





One of over 300 Australian budgies.

After that we had the run of the zoo. The twins had to show me their favorite part of the zoo, the Australian Free-Flight Budgery.







Birds of a feather of every color.

We went inside the budgery armed with budgie treat sticks and were immediately greeted by the colorful birds. I had as many as four budgies at a time on one hand and with another riding on my shoulder.

The twins were enthralled with the colorful and friendly budgies. This is the first time I've ever had an encounter like that and I must say, I could have spent hours sitting on a bench and talking to all the birds.


Two of the three young giraffes.

We fed goats (slobbery eaters), sheep, guinea pigs, rabbits, roosters, chickens, peacocks, giraffes and camels. They all loved the special zoo feed we bought upon entering the zoo.

The twins' favorite was the three giraffes who were surprisingly gentle. The girls weren't at all intimidated by large giraffes that towered over them.








A 10 ft. American Alligator with a powerful tail.

We made the rounds of the rest of the zoo, visiting the two Bengal Tigers, two American Black Bears, a gigantic old American Alligator, llamas, gibbons, turtles, cockatoos, a huge vulture and an assortment of other critters.






One of the zoo's inquisitive chimps.

We rode the Zoo Safari Train to see the zebras, ostriches, chimpanzees, White Rhinos, two hippos  and Rwanda, the Western Lowland  Gorilla, with Kigali, her ten month old baby. Kigali was sleeping beneath a grass hammock so we only saw a glimpse of him.










Rwanda, the 27 year old mama gorilla examining a stick.


Three and a half hours later the twins were still full of energy and I was beat. All in all, it was a really fun day.

Now I'm sitting in my recliner with my feet up and going through my assortment of photos for this post. I hope you enjoy the photos, of which these are only a few of the hundred or more that I took.

Llama tails.

For those who follow my blog, I usually add a list of related books. In this case, some are Zoo Tales (fact and fiction) and others are related reads. I've also included a list of Children's & YA Zoo Books. I've only read a few of these books, but they all look like great reads. Many of the books are available in eBook format.


Zoo Tales and Related Reads (in no particular order):

We Bought a Zoo by Benjamin Mee
Steve & Me by Terri Irwin
Jungle Jack: My Wild Life by Jack Hanna
Lioness by Nell Brien (aka Shirley Palmer) *
Babylon's Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Babylon Zoo by Lawrence Anthony with Graham Spence
The Last Rhinos: My Battle to Save One of the World's Greatest Creatures by Lawrence Anthony with Graham Spence
The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild by Lawrence Anthony with Graham Spence
Congo Kitabu by Jean-Pierre Hallet **
Animal Kitabu by Jean-Pierre Hallet **
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller *
Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier by Alexandra Fuller *
Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller
Malaika by Van Heerling ***
Our House in Arusha by Sara Tucker
Growing Up in Africa by Lee & Genny Nichols
Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide by Peter Allison
Backseat Safari by Robyn Keene-Young
Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen **
The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood by Elspeth Huxley
Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingston by Martin Dugard
How I Found Livingston by Sir Henry H. Stanley **
Savages and Beasts: The Birth of the Modern Zoo by Nigel Rothfels
The Rhino with Glue-On Shoes (Zoo Vets and their Patients) by Lucy H. Spelman
Life at the Zoo: Behind the Scenes with the Animal Doctors by Phillip T. Robinson
In the Shadow of Man by Jane Goodall **
My Life with the Chimpanzees by Jane Goodall
Gorillas in the Mist by Dian Fossey **
A Zoo in My Luggage by Gerald Durrell
Night Kill (A Zoo Mystery) by Ann Littlewood
The Koala of Death (A Gunn Zoo Mystery) by Betty Webb
Anteater of Death (A Gunn Zoo Mystery) by Betty Webb
Death Roll (A Snake Jones Zoo Mystery) by Marilyn Victor
The Menagerie: A Zoo Story by J. D. Porter ***

A Giant Tortoise.

*Read and on my bookshelves.
**Read but borrowed from the library.
***TBR on my Kindle





Children's and YA Zoo Tales (in no particular order):

If I Ran the Zoo by Dr. Seuss
The View at the Zoo by Kathleen Long Bostrom
Bruno Munari's Zoo by Bruno Munari
Going to the Zoo by Tom Paxton
Dear Zoo (A Lift-the-Flap Book) by Rod Campbell #
Zoo Animals by Brian Wildsmith
Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann #
Curious George Visits the Zoo by Margaret Rey
Put Me in the Zoo by Robert Lopshire #
Never, Ever Shout in a Zoo by Karma Wilson
Animal Strike at the Zoo, It's True! by Karma Wilson
If Anything Ever Goes Wrong at the Zoo by Mary Jean Hendrick
The Secret Zoo by Bryan Chick
Danger at the Zoo: A Kit Mystery (American Girl Mystery) by Kathleen Ernst
The Zoo Crew (Nancy Drew & the Clue Crew) by Carolyn Keene
Edison and the Dinosaur Zoo by N. R. Mackie
Saving the Bagdad Zoo by Kelly Milner Halls
Trouble at the Zoo (Bindi Wildlife Adventures) by Bindi Irwin & Chris Kunz
Croc Capers (Bindi Wildlife Adventures) by Bindi Irwin & Chris Kunz

# Children's Zoo Books recommended by my grandkids.

One of the two young camels.

I'm sure I've left off a bunch of zoo or related reads, so please feel free to add your favorites in the comments below. I'd also love to hear what you enjoy the most about the zoo.