We set off for Buffalo Zoo about an hour and a half away for Batavia, we had taken a packed lunch with us to save time and money! Buffalo Zoo is a small Zoo but has some excellent exhibits with the highlight for me being the Polar Bear cubs (Luna and Kali), although they are now quite large.
We discovered later that Irene had been admitted as a juvenile, of course I was admitted as a senior, so she reckoned she should have been calling me, "Mother"!.
I needed a Restroom but it appeared they they were all locked!! So we wandered through to the Otters first and learned a few new facts. 
The sea Otters have round tails and have webbed back feet while river Otters have flat tails and their back feet are separated. There was one Otter running around but we did not see any others. This was followed by a view of some Rocky Mountain Goats, sitting very relaxed up high on their own "mountain". 
We then went to the Heritage Farm and we found an open Restroom there so I felt much better after that.
We then wandered on trying to find somewhere to sit to eat our lunch, being winter all the seating areas where either surrounded by snow or closed up. Eventually, a lovely young female security guard opened up the Ice Cream Parlour so we took up residence to eat our lunch!! 
Thus fortified we noted where the Gorilla entrance was and then moved on to where the Polar bears were situated. These are the two cubs mentioned above and they are out from 10 am until 2 pm every day. 
We soon found them, near to the Lion enclosure, in an enclosure they share with a Siberian Tiger! Fear not, the tiger is in residence when the Polar Bears are not!!
I watched them for nearly an hour as they played with Luna in particular being a real show off! She loves to run and slide as well as dive into the water and stand on her plastic iceberg!! 
The worrying part was when she walked along the edge beside the long drop to the moat which separates the animals from the humans! 
Luna was obviously fascinated by the people watching from the front outdoor view but would also run up to the side window on the outside wall to stand up and look at the people there! They were really fun to watch and obviously were enjoying themselves. They were provided with some ordinary plastic objects as toys and this added to their fun.
On one of her darts to the edge, Luna managed to lose a toy into the moat, which was dry, and she looked longingly down at it. She walked along to some steps at the side but would not go down them.
We then went to the Gorilla house and it was delightful. There was the head honcho, a juvenile and two females one of them with her first baby! She was so careful with her baby who seemed to enjoy hanging on to her back but upside down!! 
The juvenile eventually found a box and decided to wear it, he spent some time parading his new gear! The head honcho ate his fill from the food that had been thrown down and then decided to chill out on one of the pieces of burlap that were scattered around. 
The mum and baby stole the show though, she walked round quite a bit with the baby on her back, then when she was eating the baby was imitating her. But the funniest part was when the mother found the box, ripped it up and was chewing up into mulch!! The baby tried to do the same, imitation is a great way to learn!!
Before returning to find the tiger i found myself by the Lemur area, they were really enjoying the afternoon sunshine! I then returned to see the tiger come out, very reluctantly, into the area where the Polar Bears had been playing.
She went round and sniffed almost every part of the outside enclosure and even went down into the moat, finally to choose a post along the back wall to lie down and survey her domain.
The lions next door were very
relaxed and one of the sat on top of the large rock and surveyed her domain. She stayed there for some time before joining her friend along the back wall in the sun.
Walking through behind the cat areas there are a number of other outside and inside enclosures where we could see Snow Leopards, other monkeys, Bison, Meerkats and Sloth among others.
I then went on to the Rainforest Falls in a large enclosed building and was like being in a tropical rain forest. The first exhibit was on Ocelot, a small cat with beautiful markings as well as many different types of beautiful birds flying free. There were also more monkeys in occupation.
On our way out we stopped beside the Otters again to see our lonesome friend running around on a circuit or so it seemed and then went to look at the Sea Lions. At first it appeared there was just one in residence and it was getting a steady supply of fish.
We finally worked out they must have been released from somewhere down below in the water. Then another one appeared from the inside pool and as that large one came out the smaller one went inside. This carried on for some time with them swapping places every few minutes and feeding on the fish.
We then left the zoo and headed back home, on the way I managed to take a photo of one of the many buildings of the State University of New York (Buffalo).
This one struck me as very majestic and I had spotted it on the way in, I managed to take the photo from the car as we were moving away from a set of traffic lights.
After a rest we headed out to tea at a local restaurant, Burgers and Bourbon. It has a great and varied menu and I chose the fish and chips.
However, the highlight of the whole evening was the fact that they stocked Woodchuck Cider. I am not really a beer drinker, and this place is known for the variety of beer that it stocks, but I love cider, the hard kind!
When I was in Defiance at dinner at the Black Lantern one time, I was told that Woodchuck was one of the best around so I am happy to have finally found it!! I ate most of my dinner but have enough left for the basis of a meal tomorrow evening.
So back home, time to write my blog and select a few from the 450 photos I took today! If we get snowed in tomorrow we have plenty to do!!! When i get home, my Flickr account is going to get a workover.
The lions next door were very relaxed and one of the sat on top of the large rock and surveyed her domain. She stayed there for some time before joining her friend along the back wall in the sun.
Walking through behind the cat areas there are a number of other outside and inside enclosures where we could see Snow Leopards, other monkeys, Bison, Meerkats and Sloth among others. I then went on to the Rainforest Falls in a large enclosed building and was like being in a tropical rain forest. The first exhibit was on Ocelot, a small cat with beautiful markings as well as many different types of beautiful birds flying free. There were also more monkeys in occupation.On our way out we stopped beside the Otters again to see our lonesome friend running around on a circuit or so it seemed and then went to look at the Sea Lions. At first it appeared there was just one in residence and it was getting a steady supply of fish. We finally worked out they must have been released from somewhere down below in the water. Then another one appeared from the inside pool and as that large one came out the smaller one went inside. This carried on for some time with them swapping places every few minutes and feeding on the fish. We then left the zoo and headed back home, on the way I managed to take a photo of one of the many buildings of the State University of New York (Buffalo). This one struck me as very majestic and I had spotted it on the way in, I managed to take the photo from the car as we were moving away from a set of traffic lights.After a rest we headed out to tea at a local restaurant, Burgers and Bourbon. It has a great and varied menu and I chose the fish and chips. However, the highlight of the whole evening was the fact that they stocked Woodchuck Cider. I am not really a beer drinker, and this place is known for the variety of beer that it stocks, but I love cider, the hard kind! When I was in Defiance at dinner at the Black Lantern one time, I was told that Woodchuck was one of the best around so I am happy to have finally found it!! I ate most of my dinner but have enough left for the basis of a meal tomorrow evening.
So back home, time to write my blog and select a few from the 450 photos I took today! If we get snowed in tomorrow we have plenty to do!!! When i get home, my Flickr account is going to get a workover.
No comments:
Post a Comment