Meerkats and Tropical Birds..... Simples!!

Without doubt Meerkats win hands down in the cuteness stakes, and I never tire of photographing these little guys. It is so interesting watching them in their own little world, watching them in their enclosure at Chester they could quite easily be in their native african environment, constantly on the move with one always on watch on the termite mound. 
Folllowing are some shots from one of the free flying bird enclosures, just as we were there a keeper was feeding live food which brought a lot of the birds down out of the trees to feed. Ive managed to name a couple but can anyone please help with the ones I cant name?

Lilac Breasted Roller

Think this is a Weaver Bird ???

Can anyone tell me what this is ???

And this ???

And this, think it may be a type of Starling??

This is a Von Deckens Hornbill. just caught lunch

one of the wildflower plantations.... beautiful

I hope that someone can get back to me to fill in the birds above that I dont know, and feel free to drop me a comment.

Coming Soon.... More Zoo adventures!!!

Keep popping in there will be more from the Meerkats soon ............

Nice Surprise

A nice surprise looking out of the kitchen window this morning whilst making breakfast, a beautiful male Bullfinch sat on the seed feeder merrily tucking in, I know I get them in the garden but cant get them onto the branches around the feeder for a more natural shot, but nevertheless a handsome bird to photograph, that was until the Jackdaw dropped in a frightened it off, while a baby rabbit happily munched away on the lawn..... nice way to start a Monday morning!!!

Jaguar ...... At long last!!!

I have been to Chester Zoo numerous times, but to date have never seen them well enough to photograph, well a short visit to the Zoo this morning and I finally cracked it, not only the Jaguar but also the Black Jaguar or Panther.
Just a few snaps below straight from the camera, will post some better ones when I have had chance to sort them all. Was so chuft to finally photograph a stunningly beautiful animal... hope you enjoy..... please let me know. Just hope now Sharon can get one painted as good as the last one she did HERE

Chester Zoo ........... Great Apes

The next installment from our Chester Zoo trip..... this time focussing on the Great Apes... namely the Orang Utans and the Chimpanzees. The majority of the Orangs were unfortunately indoors and difficult to photograph, but we did find a few youngsters playing outside in the sunshine.
Likewise the Chimps were mostly indoors or huddled in a tight group in the doorway, but one old guy was really relaxing in the sun, and looked almost human sunbathing on the grass!!

Chester Zoo - Asiatic Lions

The second post from yesterdays trip to Chester Zoo, this time concentrating on the Asiatic Lions, very much threatened in the wild, but Chester have great success in breeding these stunning beasts. Today when we arrived they were asleep on their large table, but when they did rouse there was lots of yawning, which showed off their impressive teeth. I then was lucky enough to get some nice shots of an intimate moment under the trees, as these magnificent kings of the jungle showed they have a real soft tender side to. Sharon is chomping at the bit to get her paints out, cant wait to see the results of whatever photos she chooses to paint, but these and a lot more can be seen on her blog site HERE
Hope you enjoy the Lions, please feel free to leave any comments.