San Diego Zoo

Last weekend we visited the San Diego Zoo. Just before we left for San Diego, I had purchased my Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 from craigslist. I am so glad I did because I think it made a huge difference in how my pictures came out. Previously when visiting the SF Zoo, I could get shots of animals but they would be so far away. With the long zoom and fast lens, I was able to get some nice pictures.

One of the major attractions at the San Diego Zoo is their panda exhibit. There is a line to get in and then the staff tries to rush you through once you get in. In that short period of time, you just have to get as many pictures as you can. In the 5 minutes or so we were in there, I took over 40 pictures. Here are a couple.

This tiger was hiding in some trees further up the hill behind him. I took some horrible pictures at first then he finally came down to the edge of the rock and I was able to catch this one.

I just loved the look of this bird with its bright colors. With the dull background it reminds me of Eric's shot a while ago with the colored flowers and b&w background.

The last time I went to the SD Zoo was almost 20 years ago. At that time, the koala exhibit was the big draw. It was a very warm day in San Diego so the koalas were just sleeping.

At the SF Zoo, the elephants were moved elsewhere after a couple of them died. People said there was not enough room for them to roam around. So we had our chance to see elephants again in San Diego. Check out that texture.

I took a lot of pictures at the zoo. Here are a couple of my daughter's favorite (at this time) animals.

If you're still with me, thanks for reading through my long posts. I hope it makes up for the my lack of activity previous to this. I'm just excited to have some pictures that are worthwhile to share with the group. With a 3-year old, most of my pictures are of kids' birthday parties and other things that would bore you guys. Let me know if you want to see more pix from our trips, I have plenty more.