May 27, 2006
Forget Avian Flu; I've Got Aviary Fever!
Yesterday, I picked up Kris from her posh design firm in downtown Salt Lake City so we could get together at least once before I head back to Indiana. It was 3 o'clock. too late for lunch, yet too early for dinner. What was there to do? What else but go bird-watching in the country's oldest and largest bird park, Tracy Aviary, located in Liberty Park. We parked on the wrong side of the park, so we meandered around a pond and the carnival rides and purchased some sno-cones before we entered the aviary.
There are a lot of ducks at Tracy Aviary. I love how ducks swallow their necks in an act of perfect contentment.
These birds also roam about freely:
But most birds, sadly, do not. Which, on a peevish note, makes it very difficult to take good pictures. Sometimes I had to try and squeeze my lens in between the netting. If they aren't going to think about the convenience of the birds, they should at least think about mine.
In one part of the park, though, you got to take a trip to Argentina and see the birds of South America. You could even go inside one of the cages (built kind of like a hacienda) and see the birds more closely. This was both exciting and a little terrifying (because birds might land on your head). But it also made it more convenient to take pictures (always important) so we risked it.
Luckily, we escaped the building with hair and scalp intact and continued our tour of Argentina.
I was really taken by the flamingos, but especially fascinated by this sleeping one. He just tucked himself in so gently.
(Sidenote: They actually have really nice restrooms at the Tracy Aviary, soft tissue paper, automatic water, and paper towels to dry your hands. It was a pleasant surprise.)
Here's the Bald Eagle. (Another sidenote: I found out that bald -orig. spelled balde - means white, not bare.)
More roaming, bellowing peacocks. Kids were chasing him, and I had a flashback to my second grade fieldtrip when I, also, chased the peacock because I was trying to be "cool." Sorry, peacock.
Someone told me there wouldn't be pelicans at the Tracy Aviary. Looks like someone was wrong.
I have never before seen a duck like this. Awesome.
I had a challenging time trying to get a picture of this swan because it kept gliding around and blurring my photos. But it was a graceful blur.
We never had magpies like this in my backyard.
And bird's with amazing psychedelic feathers (not furs). Again, I had to align my camera with the holes in the netting in order to get pictures.
Well, that's the end our tour through the aviary. I returned momentarily to taking photos of flowers because beautiful.
And then Kris and I pulled up a spot of grass in the shade for a good chat before I dropped her off at the Trax station.
Posted by kea at May 27, 2006 12:49 PM