Grampy's Nature Photographs

Monday, 23 July 2018

Zoo Animals

Toronto Zoo Visit July 10, 2014

Mother alligator having a rest near her nest.

Baby alligators starting to hatch.

Babies were hatching and were really hard to see. Do you see the babies?

I have pointed out the two that we found.

Peacock courting a female

This male peacock started to court a female who seems was not the least bit interested and after a while he got really agitated.

Hippo basking in the sun.

This big guy was basking in the sun. His skin is red as a red fluid comes to the surface of the skin when out in the sun too long. A secretion of the hippopotamus protects its skin from the sun and bacteria thanks to two pigments that absorb UV light and have antibiotic properties.

A face only a mother could love!

Pigmy Hippo

This is a smaller version of the big hippo and has some different features in the bone structure and the amount of teeth.

Lets check those teeth.

The pygmy hippopotamus is a small hippopotamid native to the forests and swamps of West Africa, primarily in Liberia and small populations in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Ivory Coast. The pygmy hippo is reclusive and nocturnal.

View while entering the Zoo while crossing a small bridge.

Panda Bear

We went mostly to see the Pandas but they were sleeping as they do most of the time when not eating.

Peacock

Peacocks wander everywhere. This male has quite the head dress.

Young Raccoons

Very young Raccoons playing

June 6th. 2014. While checking my family of Robins, I notice these two young raccoons playing on top of an old telephone post that was used for clothes lines at one time.

Had enough at the top of the post and on the way down now.

Two little bandits for sure. Next generation of garbage can raiders to look forward to.

Can't get down there. They left along the fence line and I'm sure they will be back in the morning.

Robins in a Pear tree

Robin in a Pear Tree #1

Picture taken May 20th. 2014 of a young Robin sitting on her nest in a Pear tree next door to our house. Picture taken with a Canon EOS Rebel T3i.

Robin in a Pear Tree #2

Another view of this Robin on her nest. I will keep taking pictures as the eggs hatch and the new family progresses.

Robin in a Pear Tree #3

Picture taken May 21st. 2014. Keeps an eye on me when I'm taking pictures. I'm waiting for her to leave the nest to see if I can get a picture of how many eggs she may have. She shifts them now and then before sitting on them and changes position quit often. Would have been nice to see her build the nest, but I missed that part. Picture taken with a Canon EOS Rebel T3i. Focal length: 250mm, f/7.1, 1/400 sec.

Robin in a Pear Tree #4

Just arrived back to the nest from getting something to eat. Must be boring sitting on eggs all day and night.

Robin in a Pear Tree #5

Making sure I didn't touch them and giving me the eye. Male bird came by to check me out but flew away before I could snap a picture of him.

Robin in a Pear Tree #6

She got a little scared when I tried to get the camera high enough to see in the nest. Couldn't get high enough to see and she took off to the fence behind the tree for a minute or so.

Robin in a Pear Tree #7

Came back for another check and then settled down to sitting on the eggs again.

Robin in a Pear Tree #8

Picture taken May 30th. 2014. Eggs hatched but can't see them from this vantage point. She giving me a bit of a warning.

Robin in a Pear Tree #9

June 2nd. 2014. Checking on the little ones. Don't know how many there is yet.

Robin is a Pear Tree #10

June 2nd. 2014. Change vantage point but was hard to focus as I could not use the view finder and use manual focusing. There appears to be two little ones but at the time I took this picture, only one poked it's head up looking for food.

Robin in a Pear Tree #11

June 2nd. 2014. Mom bringing back some dinner. Still did not get a picture of the second nestling.

Robin in a Pear Tree #12

Picture taken June 12th. 2014. Lunch time for the nestlings and oh my gosh--there is three little ones, not just two.

Robin in a Pear Tree #13

June 4th. 2014. Yup, there is three that I can see. That's going to keep mother busy.

Robin in a Pear Tree #14

Just how is three going to fit into that little nest as they get bigger?

Robin in a Pear Tree #15

Wrong again. Looking at this picture, I can now see four nestlings. WOW! I guess mother did not lose any of her eggs. The nestling on the right side in the foreground looks a bit on the small side.

Robin in a Pear Tree #16

June 4th. 2014. Nothing for you guys right now. Mom is constantly leaving for food. The little one must not get much as the others have longer neck and bigger mouths.

Robin in a Pear Tree # 17

June 6th. 2014. Little ones are getting bigger by the day. Mother is going for food non stop.

Robin in a Pear Tree #18

June 6th. 2014. How all these nestlings will fit in the nest in the near future should be a challenge.

Robin in a Pear Tree # 19

June 6th. 2014. Now I'm a bit puzzled now. Is this the Mom and the Dad or two Moms. Could this be a communal nest?

Robin in a Pear Tree #20

Both adult Robins had brought food. Both appear to be the same tone of red on the chest area. I thought females were a more washed out color.

Robin in a Pear Tree #21

Could two Robins use one nest? Does a male Robin also feed the nestlings?

Robin in a Pear Tree #22

I guess I will have to research this and find out how to tell a male from a female of if two can lay eggs in one nest.

I looked it up on the internet and it seems Robins lay four eggs at a time, one day apart. The male also guards the nest. The male has a slightly darker head so I guess the one on the right is the male.
Chest color does not seem to be too much different on these two.
The little ones should have flight in about 10 days from now. I will continue taking pictures.

Robin in a Pear Tree #23

June 6th. 2014. Getting bigger by the day and feeding is ongoing but I fear one is missing. I can now only count 3 nestlings and I counted four yesterday. The smallest one seems to have vanished. I did not see anything on the ground so I don't know if the mother disposed of it or something.

Robin in a Pear Tree #24

I can't hold my neck up any longer. Just bring me some food!

Robin in a Pear Tree #25

Maybe if I stretch my head up high enough, mom will get the food here sooner.

Robin in a Pear Tree #26

See! It worked. Lets do it all over again.

Robins lay eggs twice a season. Maybe they will come back and try again in this tree.

Butterfly and Refections

Butterfly-5

This picture was taken July 2012 at the Toronto Zoo with a Canon EOS Rebel T3i. Focal length: 35mm, f/5.6.
I take my pictures in raw format and convert to jpeg with Digital Photo Professional software that came with my Canon T3i camera. To remove the colour from the pictures I used Adobe Photoshop CS5 software. The photo must be in RGB colour mode to do this as CMYK will not work for replacing the colour after. Your go to Adjustments and choose Desaturate to remove the colour. Do not use the Grayscale mode as this will not work and you won't be able to restore the colour. Now that the colour has been removed, use the History Brush Tool and adjust the brush size to suit. Magnify the picture so you can follow the outline of the subject you want to restore colour to and brush in the colour. A short amount of practice and you will be making cool photos to frame.
The first photo I tried this on was the fruit in the bowl , restoring the colour to the orange and then the strawberry in another photo.

Reflection

Also taken July 2012, this picture from the Toronto Zoo was taken with a Canon EOS Rebel T3i. Focal Length: 21 mm, f/3.5. The water was smooth like a sheet of glass making it mirror perfect. Can you see the bird? I plan to go back this Spring or Summer to see the Panda Bears.