Another Trip to the Zoo ....

Yesterday myself and the girls decided to brave the cold and head to the Zoo again. This time the plan was to see the kiwi at the bird house. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 11 AM they have one of the zoo personnel bring out one of their kiwis and you can get a chance to see one of these nocturnal creatures up and close.

So first of all I had no idea that these birds were so big. I guess I always imagined a kiwi being a small bird but they definitely fall into medium size. This one was bigger than my head - and I have a big head. I actually learned quite a lot. Kiwis lay VERY large eggs - the egg is at least a third of the size of the bird. To see it in the bird (they have a skeleton with one in it) you cannot help but think - "How the hell does that thing lay an egg that big?" To me it looked like a woman carrying a 30 lb baby. I also learned that the new born, once it hits 4 weeks old, is chased out of the burrow and they are on their own. The lady at the zoo also said that there were only 3 dozen kiwis outside of New Zealand and 4 of them were at the National Zoo It was actually a very fascinating talk.

As we walked through the Zoo we did manage to catch a number of new videos along with lots of pictures. I need to get the pics from Tika so keep an eye out for those but in the meantime here are links to a few videos we took:

• Barple remembered Sammy and to prove it - a quick video update 
• While in the bird house we did see a male hitting on a female - Do not worry "G" rated video 
• and finally a trip to Meerkat Manor - DC style 

OK - back to work for me. I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Years!

.... cu